Whatever you are, be a good one
by OrangeAfterglow
Summary: A strange sphere crash lands inside the walls of a maximum security prison. The content? a strange looking blue baby with his pet fish. This is the 'true' story of how Megamind came to be and the people who helped him become that person.
1. The very beginning

Logan had always kept himself to himself, never really wanting to get too … close to the other inmates. He had been sitting in a corner of the yard quietly daydreaming to himself, thinking about the life he had left behind and what his family were doing right at that moment. He had recently received a letter from his wife, the very same letter that was stashed safely in the breast pocket of his overalls, telling him that she had given birth to his baby girl a few days ago. He held the tiny photo of her in his hand as if it was the most precious object in the world. He wouldn't see her until she was 19 when he would be eligible for parole. A single tear had threatened to spill down his face when the sky began to fall.

The strange sphere had landed outside of the prison boundary and had, to the misfortune of it's occupant, bounced over the fence and landed solidly in the sand of he exercise yard. After hearing murmurs of it being some kind of baby, Logan pushed his way through the crowd to have a look for himself. What he saw made him question his own sanity in a whole new way. There was indeed a child, but it was like no child he had ever seen. It was blue for a start and the poor thing seemed to be horribly out of proportion. It's head was swollen and far too big for it's small podgy body. Logan knew instantly it was a boy, not because of the colour of it's skin as many of the other men were mumbling, but because of it's face. It was beautiful in that delicate boyish was some children are with large questioning eyes that all of a sudden locked onto his.

The child broke into the most brilliant grin Logan had ever seen and held out his arms as a request to be picked up. The child's laugh was infective and many of the men started to chuckle to themselves in response.

Logan obligingly reached down and picked the child up, smiling at the way it seemed to be transfixed by his beard.

"I think it likes ya." Brian said with smile as the group began to thin out as a number of the prison guards approached.

"Yeah, looks like." Logan smiled as he bounced the baby up and down before raising a concerned eyebrow at the guard that approached him.

As the only female guard in the prison, Marcie was not one to mess with. She was far harder than any of the other guards and could hold her own very well if it came down to a fight. She had trained for this job her entire life and thought that she could anticipate anything that could possibly happen in a prison like this. That training thought her how to bring down guys three times her size in the middle of a riot, it taught her how to handle herself when staring down the barrel of a gun, it even taught her how to break up fights that started in the shower block. What it didn't teach her was how to react to the site of an inmate standing in the exercise year holding a baby.

"Logan?" Marci said questioningly as she stood in bafflement unable to tear her eyes away from the baby, "errm…"

"Don't take him Miss," Logan automatically twisted his body ay as if to shield the baby from the woman. His face held a slightly panicky expression that put Marci on edge, "Please, I don't think he has anyone else."

"We have to find his parents Logan, they must be missing him."

"Take a look at that thing he landed in! That aint from round here. I don't think he has any parents Miss" Logan pleaded as he took a step back from the guard, he looked back over his shoulder as if weighing up the option of making a break for the fence.

"Logan, he is a child, a baby. This really isn't the place for him, we don't even know where he came from!"

"Sure we do, he came from another planet, look at him. What do you think we should do with him, put him into care? I lived through that system Miss, I know what it's like growing up without parents! I cant be there for my daughter but something out there thought to send this baby here and now I can be there for him! Please, Just let him stay." A thought suddenly struck the man and he became even jumpier than he was before, "We have to keep him a secret! Look at him! If the wrong people find out about him he will be taken to some secret government facility and experimented on! Don't make that face, you know it happens! I can't let that happen to him. Please… just let him stay. It wont hurt anyone! Even Brian is taken by him, you never know, it may calm him down a bit."

Marci approached slowly, her body language calming the panicked man. She looked curiously from the baby to the fish it was holding in a glass sphere. She sighed to herself shaking her head as if she was disagreeing with something in her own head. Just at that moment the siren sounded the end of free time.

"Return to your cell Logan. I'll bring the pet request form for you later "

"Oh Miss, you wont regret this I pro-"

"Hey, don't try that honest john thing with me Logan. Just don't mess up!" Marci said sternly as she stepped to the side gesturing for the man in orange to walk past her and proceed back to the cells. With baby and fish in his arms, Logan strode past the other guards and into his cell. For the first time since arriving in the place he now had to call home, he smiled as the bars slid shut.

"What should we call it?" Brian asked, his thick accent heavy with wonder at the tiny creature that sat on the floor looking up at them with a puzzled expression. His podgy form was sat in a hep on the floor of the cell, hunched over the blue creature and its fish friend.

"I'm not sure, I can't seem to think of anything that would suit him." Try sighed as he scratched his head through his mop of thick tightly curled hair.

"Maybe he already has a name, we can't change it if he already has one." Logan said from his vantage point on the bed as he watched his cell mates carefully. Since he had brought the baby into his cell everyone had been falling over themselves to have a look at it. Even the guards, who had been updated by Marci, had all wanted to see for themselves.

"Well, how would we find hat out?" Brian asked with a deeply puzzled look on his face.

"You could just ask." the small voice seemed to come out of nowhere causing the two men on the floor to jump up in shock. All the baby did was smile happily.

"Alright, which one of you jokers said that?" Logan snarled at the men in the neighbouring cells, all of them looked over at him like he had gone crazy.

"I said it." the small voice spoke out again, this time eliciting a small laugh from the boy who was now rolling on his back clutching his fish to his chest.

Logan peered down at the strange fish who was looking directly at him from inside the glass bubble. The man hoped off of the bed and crouched down onto the ground, inching closer while never taking his eyes off of the fish.

"Hi!" The fish grinned showing off the dangerously sharp teeth hidden within it's mouth. From the tone of the fish's voice it was mean to be friendly but that smile looked anything but. Logan leaped back with a sharp yell of surprise and Brian and Troy backed themselves up against the bars of the front of the cell.

"y - you can talk?" Logan asked as he tried to regain his breath and once again edged closer to the boy who was now sitting up again looking a little panicked after the sudden movement.

"Yes, I can" The fish answered honestly, trying to smile a little less alarmingly.

The three cellmates were speechless for a few moments as they tried to take in everything that was happening. Not only did a young blue baby fall out of the sky and land in their prison, but that boy had a pet fish in a glass bubble and that fish could talk… in English too!

"Errm…ok, little fish. Errm…" Logan wasn't exactly sure where he should start, thankfully, the fish spoke up obligingly.

"I'm Minion, at least that is what Sir's parents told me." Minion looked up at the baby with a kind smile, this brought the child's smile back to his face once again.

"Minion? That's an …odd name. My name is Logan, and this is Brian and Troy."

"Thank you for trying to help Sir, I did not like the sound of what you said might happen to him if we had to leave here." The fish looked so concerned at the thought, While he realised instinctively what this place was, that these men were not the most wholesome of society's representatives, but it was better than the alternative.

"And does 'Sir' have a name?" Logan coaxed in a voice he hoped sounded friendly. It was obvious by the tone of voice of the fish that he was very young himself. The way he voiced his questions, it sounded like a child of about 6 reading questions of a sheet of paper.

"Yes." The fish answered as if he truly believed that was the only answer expected of him.

"Can you tell us what it is? What we should call him?"

"I don't know what his name is, only that he has one." Minion answered honestly

"Well, until we figure it out, I guess we will just have to call you 'Blue'." Logan smiled as he patted the boy on his abnormally large head. This seemed to please the child as he broke out into a fit of giggles and rolled happily onto his back on the floor.


	2. Pieces of the puzzle

A smirk spread across the man's face as he watched the tiny baby in front of him stare with determination at an old jigsaw puzzle. The child tipped the contents of the box out over the floor and studied them intently before scattering them out in front of him and sorting them into groups. He worked quickly as if taking too long would mean that he lost the game.

"Aint that one a bit hard Logan?" Brian said as he watched in amazement as the child hurried through a puzzle he himself would have difficulty with.

"Just watch my friend." Logan smiled to himself as he rested his chin on his hands, fingers knitted together.

A few minutes later the child sat back and sighed in what could only be described as frustration and glared hatefully at a single piece of the puzzle before putting it roughly to one side. The odd piece discarded, the child returned to his task and quickly slotted each piece in it's place.

Logan chuckled to himself as he watched his adopted son complete the puzzle swiftly, glaring at the ever increasing pile of pieces that belonged to another long-lost set. With a disappointed frown the boy scooted back away from the puzzle, looking around the room briefly as if the pieces that he was missing were hidden somewhere in the room. This picture, an amazing image of the earth rising over the horizon of a bleak moonscape, had various pockets of emptiness where the pieces had been lost or mixed in with other anonymous sets. The child turned and pouted at Logan while pointing a stubby finger at the gaps in the puzzle.

"I don't know where they are Blue, but maybe we can try and find the sometime." With that he scooped the boy up into his arms and deposited him in the draw he had fashioned into a crib next to where Minion was nestled. A plan to entertain the child tomorrow was already forming in Logan's mind, and one that would further test the problem-solving skills of this extraordinary child.

Marci had brought one of the prison's nurses in under the strictest confidence to assess the child and check for any injuries following the crash. He was little more than a week old, two weeks when he landed and two months on he was already out thinking many of the prison inmates including his cell mate Brian. Logan smirked at the thought that that wasn't the hardest thing in the world to do.

Brian had earned his place in the Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted by being almost unstoppable when in a rage. He had been caught trying to steal some cakes from an up-market bakery in the city and when challenged by the staff he just barged past them into the back of the shop looking for the good stuff. It took 15 police officers to take him down and he put five of those in hospital. All he wanted was a cream cake, if they had told him he could take them to the station he would have gone willingly!

Logan sighed to himself as he gently stroked the child's large blue head. Marci was half right. The poor child had done nothing to deserve this. He was as innocent as any creature that had ever walked over the earth, and as for minion, well it was crystal clear that the little fish had a pure heart. What hope did a child like that have being raised by convicts? Still, it was better in here than out there where anyone could get their hands on him.

"I must be crazy for allowing this." Marci sighed as she leant up against the bars to the front of his cell, "He's kinda cute in a… strange sort of way. So, are you enjoying playing 'daddy'?"

"He's a good kid, I just wanna do right by him Miss, honest. If I can't be there for my own girl, then I want to be here for him." a grin suddenly spread across his face as he sprang up from his seat and grabbed a photo off of the wall, "she's getting big already! She looks just like her mother! My wife sent a letter too, she says that when Lita, that's her name you see, when she is old enough to understand, she will come and visit me. I'll get to see my girl! In just a few years I'll get to see my girl!"

The excitement in the man's voice was infectious and seen the prison guard was having to cover up the small laugh that escaped with a self conscious cough. She had to remind herself that this confident and charismatic man was infact in the prison for murder. And he was talking about bringing up a child in the best way he could.

"This isn't a place where you can live out your little fantasies about being a good parent Logan. You are in here for a reason. You would do well to remember that. This isn't a holiday camp you know." With that she straightened her face into the steely and determined visage of a no nonsense prison guard and strode away, banging the baton she carried against the bars to silence some of the more rowdy inmates.

"Reason?" the small voice of the little fish squeaked out from the back of the cell. Logan closed his eyes as he leant against the bars, the cold of the metal seeping into his skin. He had know the question was coming of course, but he had not expected it to come so early. When he looked over to the fish the small creature was giving him a very deep and searching look. It was quite unnerving.

"I did something. Something terrible. And now I am paying for it and it really isn't something that I like to talk about. Rest assured Little Fish, that I would not hurt Blue in any way. I have put my past behind me and I am trying to move on, as much as this place will let me." He smiled at the fish which seemed to do the trick as the strange little creature nodded and swam in three small circles within his bubble before settling on the bottom and drifting off to sleep. All of the tendrils hanging from the bottom of his body snaked out in the direction of the boy in mush the same way that a mother would hold her child's hand.

Logan lay down on his bed and stared at the bottom of the bunk above him. His past lay heavy on his mind and threatened to drag him down into the pit of despair. It had almost won too, then the child showed up. It was as if a shaft of sunlight had penetrated through the darkness to offer the smallest glimmer of hope for redemption. He hoped that when the time came to confess to the boy and the little fish that they would not hate him. That they would understand.

The following day Logan took the child into the library where he had taken out 76 boxes of old jigsaw puzzles. The child looked at them eagerly and then glanced back at Logan with such hope that the man couldn't help but smile.

"They are all old and many of them are mixed up in the wrong boxes." this news did nothing to dampen the excitement in the child's eyes, "Do you think you could put them all back in their proper places?" The question was asked in a whisper, almost as if the task was a closely guarded secret.

And it was the best secret the child had ever been told.


	3. Go Go Binky Power!

"What'ya got there Blue?" Brian beamed down at the toddler who was busying himself with what looked for all the world like a child's attempt at an annotated diagram. Whatever the drawing was meant to depict it was lost on Brian as her grinned down at the happy boy. Minion watched on with a smile on his face from his vantage point at the child's side.

It had been 6 months since the boy had crash landed inside the prison boundaries and he had come one leaps and bounds since then. He had learned the names of his new 'family' within a few months and only slurred them a little with his baby-talk. Having mastered all of the jigsaw puzzles the Prison library had to offer he had moved onto a tub of blocks that one of the guards have brought in for him. Within hours of discovering the tub he was building his own cityscapes only to use Minion's bubble as a bowling ball to destroy his own creation. It seemed that everyone in the prison wing was keen to see how far the boy could go and soon people were falling over themselves to buy him the latest creative toy to see just how smart the tyke was. It was the metal construction set that brought the child the most amusement.

Spending hours by himself in the cell as Logan and the others were in their own lessons, Blue set about creating whatever his vast imagination could think of only to take them apart again to make something new, something bigger, something better.

However, it didn't take long for him to grow frustrated with the limitations of the model set, and then, he found exactly what he needed to make his creations so much better!

Minion grinned proudly at the look of concentration on his ward's face as the buy determinedly sculpted the discarded sheets of metal he had happened across into the correct shape. He mastered the use of the welding torch instantly and even realised that the purpose of the large mask he discovered with the welding set was to protect his eyes from the glare of the flame. In what felt like no time at all he had fashioned himself a fully mobile tricycle much like the ones he had seen in the children's magazine that Marci had given him a few days prior. The child frowned for a long moment as he looked from his binky to the tricycle and then broke into an excited grin as he modified the handle bars to include a clip to attach the binky to. The day he revealed his creation to all of his friends on the block was the most exciting day of his life. He laughed like he never had before as he peddled as fast as he could down the row of cells with all of his adoptive uncles running after him cheering. He felt like he was flying! The rush of energy he was feeling was utterly exhilarating and was almost too much for him to process. Everything began to build up into one huge wave of energy as he peddled towards the far wall and his grin became wider as the tricycle beneath him began to quiver. The noise was deafening as a blinding bolt of power blasted forth from the binky and blew a huge hole in the outer wall of the block. He skidded to a halt as he watched the other inmates run through he hole jumping and cheering happily as they went. He was still grinning as he noticed the tall man glaring down at him with a look of irritation on his face. His smile dropped away completely as he was suddenly scooped up into Marci's arms and he listened to her begging for forgiveness for him.

"Sir! He doesn't know what he is doing, it is all just a bit of fun that got carried away-"

"That's enough Officer. Take him back inside." The Warden said quietly in a tone of voice that could only be described as dangerous, "And clean up this mess!"

With that he strode away kicking bits of brick out of his path as he watched the other guards gather up the scattered prisoners who, thankfully, had not got past the perimeter fence.

"I don't know why you are smirking, this isn't a good thing you know!" Marci snarled as she deposited the kid back in his cell. Logan chuckled to himself as he watched the child smirk at something that Minion whispered to him.

"If I find out that you put him up to this I swear I'll -"

"Oh, c'mon! Like he needs any encouragement. I'm telling you, this kid is smart. I mean really smart! That head of his must be big for a reason!" Logan mused as he sat up and smirked slyly at the prison guard, "He needs an outlet for all of this stuff going on in his head or else he'll blow!"

"Yeah, well make sure his 'outlets' don't turn out to be outlets for anyone else!" Marci whispered in a hiss as the other guards entered the block with the 'escaped' criminals in tow. Many of the men that were dragged past the boy's cell were still high on the excitement of the day and even cheered him once again for what he had done.

The boy smiled happily to himself genuinely pleased that he had managed to make everyone so happy.

"Look, I know it is a lot to ask for but please Miss, you know he needs this." Logan practically begged the woman in front of him on the other side of the bars. He reached out to her with his chest and face resting against that bars before he sighed almost in defeat, "I know he is classed as a 'criminal' but he is just a boy! The only thing he has done to earn himself some time is to destroy a bit of prison property."

"It is called 'Government Property' Logan and he destroyed over $10,000 worth of equipment! What the hell was he trying to do anyway? Setting off some sort of electricity bomb!" Marci shot him an incredulous look as if she truly could not believe he was trying to defend the boy, "Why should we just give him what he wants? That is not what prison is about, you of all people should know that!"

"All he wants is a laptop so he can have a go on the internet! It isn't like he's going to break it or anything"

"That is exactly what he would end up doing, I am not going to be the one responsible for allowing a toddler to bring down the internet because he thought he could make it better!" Marci held up her hand to signal that the conversation was over before turning and striding away.

"You know, she probably would have given you one if you hadn't have destroyed their computer systems like that." Logan said as he turned towards the child that sat at the back of the cell happily drawing away on a large sketch pad.

"It was an accident, it was supposed to make sparks like a firework, I didn't think it actually did anything until the lights went out." The boy said without turning round as he frowned in concentration.

"well, it certainly got there attention this time Blue." Logan smiled to himself as he lay back on his bed and braced one foot on the bottom of the bunk above him.

"hmmm." The boy hummed as he stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he carefully erased a tiny portion of the drawing he was working on.

"well I think it was a very good invention sir!" Minion piped up from his place on the floor next to the boy. Blue smiled as the fish rolled his bubble up against the boy's leg happily.

The happy silence was broken suddenly by a guard banging on the bars at the front of the cell before pushing a small open envelope through the bars onto the floor.

Logan shot up from his bed and eagerly grabbed the envelope smiling broadly as he read his own name. Pulling the letter out he glanced at the photo of his daughter, now 3 years old and grinning a toothy grin at the camera. Blue turned to face his adoptive father in curiosity and sat patiently waiting for the man to share his thoughts.

"She's coming to visit." Logan whispered in disbelief as he read the letter again and again. He was fully expecting the words to shift and change to display their true meaning, the words couldn't possibly be true, could they?

"She?" Blue asked as he tipped his large head to the side, his gesture instantly mimicked by minion.

"My… my wife," Logan said, still not fully believing his own eyes, "she says…she says she is bringing Lita with her!" The quiet, hopeful joy in his voice caused a small smile to break out on the boy's face as he watched the man who had taught him everything he knew about the world around him practically vibrate with excitement.

"I… I can't believe it! She says that … that it feels right. That she thinks it is time for Lita to finally meet her Daddy!" Logan stood up and practically skipped around the cell with excitement, "OHH HO HOOOO! I'm gonna meet my baby! My baby girl is coming to see me! ME!" He scooped the boy up into his arms and hugged him tightly as he span around the small cell with pure exhilaration as the child laughed with him.

Minion fanned his fins happily as he watched the pair spinning as if they were dancing to some kind of erratic music.


	4. True colours

Logan returned to his cell looking for all the world like he was never going to smile again. His shoulders hung low leaving his arms to dangle limply at his sides. His chin rested on his chest and he walked with slow stumbling steps reminiscent of a man walking to his death. The stone faced prison guard slid the barred door shut barely a moment after he stepped over the threshold and locked it before striding away with a look of disinterest. All three of the cell's inhabitants fell silent as he walked over to hid bunk and lay down, slinging an arm across his eyes. Minion made a small unsure noise as Blue stood up wobbly from his place on the floor and tottered over to the broken man.

"Logan?" The boy asked as he poked the man with one finger. When that didn't get a response the boy decided he must not have felt it so he poked harder. Eventually the man made an uncoordinated move to shoo the boy away by waving his hand in the boy's general direction.

"What's gotten you so glum?" Brian's face suddenly appeared over the edge of the top bunk, the bald man's face turning slowly red as gravity pulled a rush of blood to his head.

"Logan!" The child repeated in a determined tone as he resorted to using both hands to try and get Logan's attention.

"Stop it!" Logan yelled into the boy's face, causing the boy to tumble back and land on his bottom with a thud.

The cell fell silent in shock aside from the rattling noise of Minion's bubble rolling across the concrete floor to the child's side. To his credit the child never whimpered, not even a tear slid down the boy's face he looked up in surprise at the red face of the one who had taken him in and protected him.

"I'm sorry" The boy said in a small voice. It was that tiny noise, the apology whispered despite the boy not knowing what he was apologising for, that finally snapped Logan back to reality. His puffy red eyes finally focused on the child in front of him and a look of utter self disgust crept onto his face as reality came crashing back.

"Oh -" Logan said shakily, his voice catching in his throat, a fresh wave of tear threatening to spill from his eyes, "C'mere Kiddo, I didn't mean anything by it."

Blue grinned a big, single toothed grin and quickly stood and toddled into the man's outstretched arms. He was instantly swept up into a strong hug that threatened to squeeze the air from the child's lungs. The child smiled happily as the man settled back onto his back with the boy cushioned on his chest.

"Mr Logan, Sir?" The voice of the small fish drifted up from the floor, full of uncertainty and tinged with fear for the blue child, "Is … is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, what's got you so cranky?" Brian said as he dropped to the floor, tired of hanging upside down off his bunk.

"Nothing'" Logan's voice was muffled as he had his face pressed against the child's neck.

"There is obviously something wrong and it is bad enough for you to shout at my Master so I have a right to know what it is!" Minion said, his little fish brow forming a fierce frown on his face.

"Yeah!" Brian agreed with an excited grin, "tell us!"

Logan pulled his face away from the child's neck, the boy just grinned at him and giggle slightly. His blue hands reached up to tug on the corners of the man's mouth, pulling his lips into a grotesque excuse for a smile.

"Logan be happy!" Blue said As he giggled to himself at the face he was making.

Logan found himself smiling despite his mood as his eyes softened and the sat up placing the boy on the floor, watching as Minion instantly rolled his bubble in-between the two.

"It's nothing really, not anything I shouldn't have seen coming anyway." Logan said more to himself than to anyone else, finally he looked towards his audience and sighed, "You know how my wife was coming to visit me today? How in her letter she had said she was going to bring Lita with her?"

The three people nodded in agreement, completely captivated by the look on the man's face.

"well, she changed her mind." Logan's head sunk to his shoulders, "She came to visit alright but she said she didn't think this was the kind of place to bring my baby girl. She said she didn't want 'her baby' to see what kind of place daddy had to live in. She said she is too young and would be scared."

"What made her change her mind?" Minion asked after Logan paused to try and steady his breath.

"She-" His voice caught in his throat for a second time, "She has… found someone else. Someone who can be a 'proper father' to Lita. She is…she is filing for divorce. Oh she says she is going to tell Lita who her real dad is, but I'm not going to be returning to her when I get out. I thought I was going to see her, I thought I was going to…to hold her. Now, I'm never going to see her."

With that the man rested his head in his hands and tried unsuccessfully to stop the violent sob that racked his body. Blue stood up from the floor and clambered up onto the bed. He sat himself next to the man and reached his stubby arms around the man's side in a small hug.

"Don't get upset Logan," Brian smiled as his face brightened with an idea to cheer his friend up, "You still have us! And Blue here needs you more than anything else in the world! That's gotta count for something eh?"

Logan opened his eyes and peeked at the boy from between his fingers. He sniffed back the tears before rubbing his hand against the child's bald head. He smiled and pulled the child into his lap before giving him a quick hug.

"what would I do without you guys eh?" He said shakily, desperately trying to regain his strong image.

"I dread to think!" Minion chuckled to himself as he rolled himself away to his corner to lazily keep an eye on his ward while drifting off to sleep.


	5. Best laid plans of boys and fish

The child sat self-consciously on one of the benches in the outdoor exercise area, watching the other inmates partake in whatever form of activity they wished to do. Many of them were playing a game called basketball, including Logan. His hair had thinned a little over the years and his skin had taken on the weather-beaten look of a man who had spent years working under the baking sun. The fierce grin on the man's face was a welcome return to the man the child had met all those years ago, before the last shreds of the man's life had been pulled ruthlessly away from him.

Blue remembered with amazing clarity the day that he had watched the man break down in front of him when he wife had told him of her wish for a divorce. The child smirked quietly to himself as he remembered how he had, at the tender age of 1 year and 3 months old he had hacked the prison's computer system and gained access to the relevant networks with ease and managed to throw every obstacle he could in the path of the divorce proceedings. When Logan found out what the boy was doing he was both shocked at the boy's actions and as proud as any parent could be at the boy's ingenuity. After two years of the tiny child foiling the plans of the woman that seemed to want to hurt his father figure, the man had told him that enough was enough, he had grown tired of the game.

Still, those two years were very enjoyable for the young boy. His activities had indeed gone by undiscovered by either the prison warden or the government officials that were no doubt left scratching their heads at the strange process the divorce application had been put through.

Blue was snapped out of his thoughts when a whistle was blown calling for a short break in the game happening right in front of him. Logan and a few of his team-mates jogged over to the benches where the boy sat. He smiled up at his friends as they stood around him panting, the sweat dripping off their heads.

"We gotta do something quick, they are walking all over us!" One of the men panted as he braced his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"How can we win? They got 'Big Bertha' on their side!" Another man whispered as he sent a fearful glance at the large tattooed man who was leaning against one of the benches on the other side of the court. He was a bear of a man who at first glance just came across as unbelievably fat but was infact packed full of enough muscle to make the most hardened weightlifter think twice about taking him on.

"What do you think kiddo?" Logan said to the boy once he had caught his breath.

"Errm… well, They do have a lot of power on their side." The boy started, suddenly feeling very unsure of himself, "But their reaction times are very slow?" As the boy ended his tentative input to the discussion his voice wavered making his suggestion sound more like a question.

"Go on." Logan said as he crouched in front of the boy with a smile on his face. The other men all looked on with keen interest, honestly wanting to hear what the boy had to say. Blue blushed faintly as even Minion turned in his bubble to look up at him with an encouraging look on his face.

"Well…" Blue began before swallowing the lump in his throat and continuing with a confident smile on his face, "IT is true they have a lot of power on their side and it is nearly impossible to stop them when they have hold of the ball, so I think you shouldn't even try to get it off them." The boy paused at the looks of surprise on the faces of the men around him, "Instead we have to use what we have, speed. You guys are a lot smaller but that makes you quicker. We need to pull any trick we can to get the ball away from them when the opportunity strikes. There is no sense playing by the rules if the other team are already playing dirty."

"Go on." one of the men whispered as the rest of the team gathered round the child.

"Get under their feet, just dash about, in-between them in an erratic a pattern as possible, confuse them and then they will start to make mistakes. No matter how strong they are their natural instincts will kick in and slow them down if they are surrounded by people running here, there and everywhere." The child was smirking wickedly to the men now, clearly loving the attention. It was all he could do to stop himself from flailing his arms out in a dramatic flourish.

"And then, when they are confused and slow, steal the ball off them and keep on running. Be unpredictable! Use their strength against them, climb on top of them if you have to just be as unpredictable as possible. Game plans wont work in this situation and the rules are almost non existent. Just… don't get caught." The boy finished and drifted back to reality fro the strange place in his head where he was giving some sort of motivational speech to a mass of cheering people.

The man that crouched around him had all adopted the same feral grin that the boy had stretching his face when the whistle was blown again. The boy watched with excited interest as the game progressed and saw with a mild sense of surprise hat the men had indeed taken on board his suggestions. They were zipping across the field as if their feet were on fire, literally running rings around the larger team. Blue's theories were proven true as the larger team became slow and uncoordinated. A cheer squeaked out of his throat as one of the men stole the ball by sliding on his back in-between one of the other men's legs and immediately throwing his ill gotten gains to another member of the team who proceeded to dart back and forth. The angry shouts from the larger team grew in intensity as the large man's fist left a hole in the ground as the man who had stolen the ball scrambled away. True to his words Logan and his team ran rings around the larger men and managed to draw the game before the final whistle was blown.

Blue's grin dropped quickly off his face as he watched as the other team turned on Logan and his men. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife and Blue stood clutching Minion's bubble safely to his chest as he backed away from the field. The roar of noise when the fight broke out was deafening. It seemed as if everyone in the exercise yard began to fight with each other at the exact same moment. The dust off of the floor caused a brown fog to hang around the skirmish, hiding much of the violence from view but the noise, he horrible sound of flesh hitting flesh, of bones snapping and the wet sound of freshly spilled blood splashing with the impacts of fist and foot.

Blue jumped as his back hit the solid stone wall of the prison block and physically flinched when the emergency sirens blared out, shrilly cutting above the din of the fight occurring right before his eyes. Suddenly prison guards spilled out of every door and leapt into the fray, bringing down prisoner after prisoner with tazer guns and shock sticks. After the larger of the men were restrained the rest of the rabble was brought under control by the threat of tazer guns and the reminder of the officers in the watch towers, armed with high specification rifles trained on the heads of the most violent of offenders.

At some point Blue had sat himself in a corner and closed his eyes, doing his very best to pretend that he was somewhere, anywhere else other than in this awful situation. The quiet voice of Marci, the friendly female prison guard who had been kind enough to protect him when he first landed in the prison, brought him round from his terrified state.

"Come on Blue, lets get you back to the cell." She whispered as she coaxed the 4 year old boy into a standing position to lead him back into the relative safety of the prison block.

That night neither Logan nor Brian returned to the cell. It was the first time Blue had to spend the night with only Minion by his side. The noises of the still angry prisoners bounced eerily around the buildings for most of the night making sleep nearly impossible for the boy.

When he did manage to sleep the boy was plagued by dreams of fantastic plans borne of his own imagination all falling apart into terrible, horrible destruction right at the very last moment.


	6. All by myself

The darkness had always been a comfort to him before. It had always been a time of peace, a time when he knew that no one was watching, a time when he knew he was safe to go about his imaginings. This night, however was different. Blue gripped Minion's bubble close to his chest as he sat with his back tucked into the corner of the room. He was alone.

So very alone.

Logan and Brian had both been put into 'solitary', or so the shouting voices that had rung out long into the night had informed him. Logan had been accused as one of the people who started the fight. The shouting voices said his temper had gotten him into trouble _again_. And Brian, the voices said that Brian had '_taken out_' one of the prison guards. Blue had sat wondering what that could possibly mean for the longest time. Guilty thoughts running rampant through his head.

Why had they been the ones to get into trouble? He was the on who had thought of the plan. The other team had been cheating so why couldn't they? Why weren't the other team the ones in trouble, if they had only been playing by the rules in the first place…

A silent tear rolled down the child's cheek and dripped onto Minion's bubble. The fish had long since fallen asleep, the excitement of the day having gotten the better of him. This had left the small Blue child alone with his thoughts in the cold and dark cell.

The shadows he had grown up in suddenly seemed much more sinister. The distant echoes of closing doors and the occasional shout of rage reverberated through his spine, escalating into a cacophony of terrifying noise inside his own head. As the noises grew louder he tried mightily to block them out however the effort only seemed to make them growing their intensity.

"shut up…" The child muttered to himself as the tears began to flow more readily down his face, "shut up, _shut up, SHUT UP_!" The child ended in a scream as he dropped Minion's bubble from his grasp to clamp his hands firmly over his ears as he doubled over into a protective ball.

"wait, wh-?" Minion mumbles groggily as he woke up while his bubble was bouncing across the small cell, "Sir?"

"_It won't stop_." The child moaned in a small voice, his breath catching in his throat.

"what won't Sir?" Minion whispered, concern emanating from ever fibre of his little fish body.

"The noises, the _shouting_, it is everywhere, it won't leave me _alone_!" He cried to himself and curled himself up tighter, pulling his knees up into his chest

"Sir, I…" Minion began, unsure of the best way to help his friend, he cared for the boy with everything he had and was utterly distraught to see the boy in such a state, "There are no noises sir."

"No, they won't stop! Please, please Minion, _make them stop_!" Blue nearly screamed through his tears and hiccups, his fingers curling into his scalp as if trying to scratch the noises out of his own head.

"Sir, SIR!" Minion shouted, desperately trying to get through to his trembling friend, "Sir, _LOOK at me!_" With that the fish bounced his bubble up into the air to bump the crying child on his large head, trying anything he could think of to get the boy's attention.

Blue looked up in shock at the stern look his best friend was giving him. The tiny fish had never looked at him like this before, never mind shouting at him! The child was so surprised he didn't even realise he had stopped crying as his small frame shook from the hiccups still forcing themselves out of his throat.

"There are no noises, no shouting! I know you are scared Sir but you have to listen to me. You are still safe here! No one can get in to you in here and soon Mr Logan will be back and everything will be ok!" The fish had to focus on the angry feeling that had welled up inside of him or else he feared he would start crying too, "You are not alone! You will never be alone because I will always be here for you! _Always_! Your parents told me to look after you and look after you I will if it is the last thing I do! Now, are you going to stop crying and making everything feel worse than they are or are you going to work on the designs for that body suit you promised me?"

Minion's voice left a quiet space in the cell with just the merest hint of an echo. The boy looked around in confusion, wondering when everything had become silent, then as his friends words slowly sank in through the thinning fog of panic, he began to smile.

"Oh Minion, You are such a fantastic fish!" The boy grinned tiredly as he scooped Minion's bubble up into his arms to give the fish the best hug he could. Without another word and with the last few lingering hiccups, Blue lay down on the floor and took out his sketch pad and coloured pencils. He had indeed promised to make minion a suit that could allow him to walk around like a person, Minion had even suggested the idea himself after having a strange dream where he had been mistaken for a bowling ball.

With the light of the boy's binky casting it's peaceful blue glow around the room the child put on paper the images and ideas he had flowing through his head. Minion snuggles into his side as a reminder that he was indeed still there and always would be there for his best friend and ward.

The following morning, Logan was still retained in solitary confinement and Blue learned that Brian had been moved to another wind specifically designed to hold 'High Risk' prisoners. The prison guard Marci had told the child that the Officer the bald man had attacked had been taken to hospital with a bad concussion and might even suffer from some long term damage. She had smiled sweetly and rubbed her hand on the top of the boys head in response to his muttered question of "Why didn't the officer just stay out of the way?" Blue found it difficult understand how anyone could be held responsible for someone becoming injured as a result of a larger event like that. It wasn't like Brian had gone out with the intention of injuring the officer, Brian wouldn't have even been there if it wasn't for him after all.

"You take responsibility?" The warden raised a sceptical eyebrow at the small child who stood in front of him, "How old are you now son?"

"4 years Warden." Blue said with a serious look on his face, he had decided on the fourth day of Logan's absence to 'Turn himself in' as the other man had once put it, and accept responsibility for the fight that had broken out on the basketball court. He had asked Marci to take him to see the warden and was fully prepared to take Logan's place in the 'Solitary' place that everyone kept on talking about. The Warden had kept a blank look on his face all the way through the boy's explanation of events.

"You are still young boy, too young for all of this. You are talking about taking responsibility for the actions of grown men. They knew what they were doing and they knew what the consequences would be. Now get out of here!" The Warden waved his hand at the boy in a 'shoo' motion before turning back to the pile of paperwork waiting on his desk.

"No!" The boy nearly yelled, surprising himself with the strength in his voice, even Minion jumped a little, "No, sir! I will not let you punish people for what they have not done!"

"But the have done wrong kid! They were fighting each other! Did you tell them to start fighting?"

"Well, no bu-"

"Well there you go then! You claim to control all of these people? You. You are nothing but a impetuous child! Believe me boy, if I could I would ship you out of here in a heart beat! Believe me, I know you are a bit of a bad egg, after all you were still a baby when you earned your first sentence by orchestrating an attempted breakout not to mention wielding a deadly weapon!" The man's face was slowly turning a rather interesting shade of red as he stood from his chair to loom over the boy from behind his desk, "So now I am stuck with you! You make enough trouble for yourself without accepting the results of trouble caused by others. Let the man do his time and if he is good then he will return back to his old cell! Now get out of my sight before I really lose my temper!"

The child wasn't sure if he could even move after sinking so deeply into the chair trying to stay away from the obviously annoyed man. He eventually managed to peel himself away without moving any closer to the man still leaning over his desk and glaring down at the child. As Blue walked out of the office, trying not to give into the urge to run, he heard Marci asking something of the Warden who just snapped some muffled response back to her sending her too scurrying from the office as if her shoes were on fire.

It was another week before Logan was returned to his cell.


	7. A room with a view

_You should know I'm not doing this for you. I understand how hard this is for you but I'm afraid it is simply not that easy to forget. I think one day forgiveness may come but please, don't push me. I'm happier now than I have been for a long time. He makes me happy. I hope one day you will come to understand that. _

_I hope you realise that I did truly love you. In some way I still do, but that isn't enough for me to be able to get past everything, so I have to move on. I have to think about myself and Lita. She is a brilliant little girl, you have no idea how much it angers my mother than she takes after you so much! She is only 4 and already she has surpassed all of the other kids in her kids group. The teachers think she could be advanced by a couple of years when she reached high school!_

_She has already begun to ask questions. Like I say she is a sharp one. She knows that something is wrong with out little family. She actually asked me the other day if she was adopted! She asked why she had dark hair when I'm blonde and Scott's is red? So I told her the truth._

_She has asked to meet you._

_I have spoken to the Visit Coordinator and he is going to try and organise a way for her to visit you without me being there. I'm afraid I just can't face the heartache._

_I told her you had done something wrong but not what you have done. If you even think of mentioning it to her then that will be it. She does not need to know what kind of monster her father can be when the mood takes him!_

Logan hung his head over the scrap of white paper as he tried desperately to hold back a tear. He had believed a letter like this once before and the prospect of meeting his then wife and new born baby had been cruelly snatched away from him. Now, after 4 long years, he was finally going to meet his daughter. He read the letter twice again to himself just to make sure he hadn't misread any part of it.

He hadn't realised it but he had actually read it out loud at one point and Blue couldn't help the grin that spread on his face. He didn't really understand everything that was in the man's letter but he understood that it had made Logan very happy. Very happy indeed. And that was all that mattered.

"What's got you in such a good mood tough guy?" Marci's voice should have been like someone pouring a bucket of cold water over the mood but it did nothing to dampen the man's spirits. He sprang up off of the bunk and held the letter out for her to read. He fiercely beat down the sense of de-ja-vu that flooded him and grinned at the woman as she read through the letter.

"Hmmm… Not bad, just…try not to get too excited eh?" She said as she unlocked the door to the cell and watched the man nearly skip out on his way to the exercise yard while Blue trailed behind, a pleased little smile on his face and Minion's bubble clutched as ever to his chest.

It was a strange room to say the least. For one thing it didn't have any corners to it and the sensation this created was enough to send someone ever-so-slightly round the bend. From the inside the room was basically a large dome, its walls sweeping round in a perfect circle. The door was the only aspect that made it look like an actual room. As Logan stepped inside it, followed by the small blue child he eyed the room cautiously. The psychological affect that the lack of corners created had an immediate impact on the man.

"Nowhere to hide." Logan muttered to himself as he walked towards the small table placed in the middle of the room. The child by his side skittered nervously to the side, reaching out to touch the perfectly smooth wall.

"So, this is where you will be with a guard in here with you at all times." The Warden said with a firm expression on his face as he stood by the single door to the room, "Everything you do will be watched and recorded by the security cameras, we will be watching you so closely we will know what you are thinking of doing before you even think of it."

"Well that is a tad overdramatic, don't you think?" Logan raised one eyebrow as he ran his hand over the surface of the table, the boy had already seen the man's sharp gaze taking in the fact that everything in the room was either not in the least bit weapon-like or was bolted to the floor.

"Don't get smart with me. No one in this prison has even been allowed a visit like this before. Your ex-wife has been very clear in her instructions and to be honest I think you are lucky she is letting you see the child at all."

"She is _my_ daughter!"

"And you are a _murderer, Logan. Sometimes I think you forget that."_

"_Believe me, I will never forget that." Logan muttered under his breath as he turned his back on the Warden. Suddenly Logan was not sure this was a good idea. A prison was no place for a child, let alone this awful room._

_He was snapped out of his thoughts as a small hand worked it's way into his own and he was instantly reminded that this prison was in fact a home to one child at least! And that child certainly seemed to be growing up in a relatively well-adjusted manner. Logan smiled down at the boy who was doing a very good impression of someone who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. _

"_What was this room made for anyway?" Logan asked as he looked back over his shoulder at the Warden._

"_It was originally used as an interrogation room." the Warden stated simply._

"_No corners makes it very intimidating, the psychological affects of this environment would make it a very uncomfortable place for anyone who had even the smallest reason to feel guilty. I could imagine a weak-minded person would go crazy if left in a room like this." Blue didn't even seem to be paying attention to the two men in the room who were both listening to his explanation in shock, "I don't like it."_

"_Well - ahem!" The Warden couched, trying to cover up his shock at the boy's insight, "Yes, that just about sums it up. Now, back to the cells, the both of you! Officers!" Two prison guards hurriedly entered the room and circled around Logan and Blue, walking them out of the room and back towards the cells. _

_The Warden walked slowly into the middle of the room looking around the walls up to the point where they domed together. No one was able to give a definitive answer as to where the walls ended and the ceiling began. As he looked back towards the door he raised one eyebrow in thought. The boy had definitely shown a very strange reaction to being in the room and that was only for a few minutes. The boy was a sharp one, maybe the concept of the type of treatment the room was intended for had struck a cord with the boy. Since he had arrived he had not shown any form of weakness other than some very strange and sensitive emotions not normally seen in a prison. The Warden smiled as he filed that little nugget of information away. In a place like a prison knowledge is power and you never know when knowledge of someone's weaknesses will come in handy._


	8. The start of something beautiful

The child hid behind the legs of the prison guard, her thumb securely clamped in her mouth as if that would ward off anything scary that might come her way. From her vantage point in the doorway she could see a man sitting at a table. He was wearing what looked like bright orange pyjamas and was smiling at her like he had just seen the best thing in the world. She recognised him from photos her mother had shown her yet her young mind was still struggling with the reality of what was going on. Her mother was not there with her to tell her it was ok. She needed to hear her mother tell her it was ok.

"Lita?" The man questioned in a quiet voice, he still had the same smile on his face that seemed to cast light into the strange room, "It's ok, would you like to come in here for a bit?"

Logan couldn't keep the grin off his face, he tried to stay calm, to not get over excited and scare the child off but he just couldn't help himself. This was his daughter, his baby girl. The one he had found out about 4 years ago on the day that he had somehow inherited the boy Blue. The child he had never seen except for in photographs. The child he didn't even know.

His face fell slightly as that thought sobered him up a bit. If he didn't know her then how could he expect her to trust him? He straightened in his seat before changing tactics.

"Do you like toys?" He asked, trying to make his face look as kind as possible. He suppressed a chuckle as the girl frowned and nodded her head twice at what could only be described as a stupid question. "Well, we have plenty of toys here! This is Blue, he is a friend of mine and he has all of these toys that all need playing with but he can't do it all by himself. You think you could help him?"

The girl looked over to the small boy who sat playing with a puzzle game, his eyes kept on darting to hers as if he was trying very hard not to look at her. He looked funny, he was blue and he had a very strange shaped head but he looked nice. The shy smile and slight blush he was sporting was a match for the girls as she toddled over towards him, gaining confidence with every step.

Blue looked up in shock as the girl was suddenly standing in front of him, her thumb still clasped firmly in her mouth. She was looking him right in the eye, something not a lot of adults seemed willing to do, she was curious and unsure but not afraid. Definitely not afraid. Blue smiled up at her, a smile which grew into a grin at the small smile that tugged on the corners of the girl's mouth.

"I'm Blue." He said quietly as he watched her standing there. Her thumb popped out of her mouth and was shyly hidden behind her back as if it was something precious she didn't want anyone else to see.

"Yeah, you are. Why are you blue?" She frowned slightly and cocked her head to one side in confusion.

"Blue is my name!" He laughed nervously at the expression on her face, "I don't know why my skin is blue, it just is I guess."

"Oh." She said, seemingly satisfied with the answer "I'm Lita."

"Cute kid, are you sure you're her father?" Marci chuckled to herself as she smirked at Logan who was watching the two children with a whimsical look on his face.

"Oh yes, very funny." Logan said, not taking his eyes off of the two who were beginning to play together with a game of building blocks, "she looks so much like her mother."

"Lets hope she takes after her too." Marci said quietly, still with an edge of hour to her voice, "Well, what are you just sitting there for? She isn't going to come on over and ask you how the food is ,is she?"

Logan looked up at her with confusion, followed by a dawning realisation that forced a smile onto his face.

"I won't tell the others you were sat on the floor playing 'My Little Pony', although that would be an interesting conversation."

Logan rolled his eyes as he stood from the chair, noting the CCTV cameras following his every move, he got the distinct impression that if he even twitched in the wrong direction then the room would fill with guards faster than you could say 'go'. Making a conscious effort to keep his actions slow and obvious he stepped over to the small space where his two children were playing happily together. He smiled down at both of them, a look of wonder crossing his face. Looking at Blue, he wondered how he could have been so lucky, he valued the boy highly as being a major reason to get through each and every hellish day in the god forsaken prison. He wasn't sure when it had happened but he wholeheartedly accepted the small alien child as his own son, the son he never had and probably would not get the opportunity to have again. This boy had saved him from himself in so many ways, Logan felt he would be indebted to the child forever. The girl that sat in front of the boy was nothing short of a miracle. She was born a few days before Blue had showed up, making them almost exactly the same age and she was quite possibly the most beautiful thing Logan had ever set his eyes on.

Her hair was a rich reddish-black colour, a shade she would undoubtedly loath when she grew old enough to do something about it, and her eyes were the same intense hazel and gold as her mothers. Her hair sat in a messy mop of curls that seemed to only do exactly what it wanted and not what it was told. All Logan wanted to do was scoop the child up into his arms and never let her go. He felt an instant pull towards her, his own flesh and blood. A creature that he had helped to bring into the world.

"what have you two got there?" He asked as he sat down on the ground behind the two children, his joints creaking in response reminding him that he was not a young man anymore.

"It's a fortress." Blue said with a slight smirk as he held the model up for inspection.

"Kinda small for a fortress don't ya think?"

"It's a scale model." Lita whispered nervously, feeling for all the world like a child scared to answer a question even though she knew she knew the answer.

"Is that so?" Logan smiled as he examined the model closely, noting that despite the fact that it was made of leggo it did appear to be an incredibly strong and stable structure. He chuckled to himself as the thought that it might even be bullet proof crossed his mind.

"This is the main room, this is where you store up all of the food and this room is where you can plan all sorts of inventions and things." Lita said as she pointed at various sections of the model, it appeared to be colour coordinated as to what area was positioned where inside the structure, "There is also a panic room in the middle of everything with an escape tunnel leading out from it."

"A panic room?"

"Uh-huh. Somewhere you can hide when people come to find you and take you away to lock you up." Blue muttered as if his mind had now moved on to other more pressing matters leaving everyone behind in his wake. Something about that concept being important to the child struck a cord within Logan and he looked around the room they were currently in.

He had been doing a good job of ignoring the room itself up until that point. After suddenly being made aware of the intimidating structure again he had the distinct impression the entire room was shrinking around him. He looked down to Blue and noted with concern the look of concentration on his face. He seemed distant, not because he was nervous of meeting Lita, but because of how uncomfortable the room was making him.

"Blue? Are you ok?" He asked quietly, not wanting the guards to overhear the conversation.

"Why?"

"You look a little…uncomfortable."

"Try not to think about it." He hadn't said it to anyone in particular, it was more like a command addressed to himself, "Don't look at the walls, the walls move, don't look at the ceiling, it doesn't even exist. Focus on things that are within your power to control, if you can't exert control over something then put it out of your mind and concentrate on something more controllable."

Logan unconsciously shifted back away from the boy, the haunted look in his eyes was something that Logan had never seen in him before. Oh he knew it for what it was, it was one of the first symptoms of long term incarceration. The first sign of your environment driving you mad. Suddenly the child turned to face him and beamed one of the most brilliant smiles Logan had ever seen.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be ok." Blue stated with such certainty that Logan smiled in relief, he had just been reassured by a child and he had taken that reassurance as nothing short of pure truth.

All of a sudden it was like the a good splash of childishness had been thrown into the room as Lita picked up a plastic horse out of the pile of old toys and proceeded to make it prance around the make-shift city causing what seemed to be no small amount of destruction in it's wake.

"What have you got there sweetheart?" Logan asked, pointing to the horse that was happily trampling over a line of cars.

"A unicorn." She stated matter-of-factly.

"What is a unicorn?" The boy asked, having never heard the name before.

"It is a magical horse that has a horn on it's head like this," Lita moulded a spike out of some brown splodge modelling putty and stuck it firmly onto the horses head b=efore making it prance around the imaginary city again.

"An horned equestrian? I have never heard of one before, where do they live?" Blue asked, watching the unicorn knock over building after building in rapt attention.

"They live in a far away land of magic called Equestria." Her face was so serious as she described this magical place that the boy's face lit up in wonder, believing every word. From the look of her model and the amount of work it was putting into destroying the 'city' it was a formidable creature and one definitely not to be messed with.

"She is angry because people stole her friends away and made them scared. So she is trying to find them, she knows they are here somewhere but she doesn't know where and the people who took them are not telling her." Lita went on to describe the elaborate story playing out inside her head and grinned in surprise as the strange boy picked up a purple plush octopus with large carton eyes and sent it slithering into the 'city' to help the distressed unicorn.

Logan just sat there, listening to the two of them creating this vast world in their combined imaginations and construct surprisingly strong emotional ties between their two main characters. Eventually the hostages were freed and despite the best efforts of the irate unicorn, the antagonist escaped to create mayhem another day. Logan smiled knowingly at Blue for working that little nugget into the story without even giving it a second thought. Escape was always on the forefront of everyone's mind and jail was not some place that Blue would ever wish on anyone, not even his worst enemy. As the kidnapper escaped to some secret fortress hidden in the city the unicorn and the octopus set about making their way out of the devastation with the rescued creatures, made up by an amusing mix of troll dolls, army men and a naked Barbie doll.

Having ended their quest the two protagonists settled down to have a bit of a chat it seemed over a much deserved drink served in a miss-matched doll's tea party set. The event looked as if it would carry on indefinitely as the two creatures talked endlessly about anything from the feelings of loneliness each one felt deep inside, sending a pang of sharp emotion through Logan's heart, to the pride they felt at defeating the forces of evil even though the bad guy escaped in the end.

Logan visibly jumped as a voice behind him alerted him to the fact that their time was up and he looked around at Marci with a pleading look in his large brown eyes. She simply shook her head and walked gestured for him to return to the small table and the chair he was formerly sat in. He did so with a sigh, swiping his had through his daughter's hair lovingly, noting with a small smile that she did not flinch away from him but even smiled slightly at the gesture herself.

"Lita, hunny, it is time to go now, your mom is waiting outside." Marci said as she walked over to where the two children were still happily playing. The girl looked up at the woman briefly before looking back at Blue with a small smile on her face. Blue himself looked shocked that she was leaving and for a moment looked as if he was going to try and stop her but instead he just smiled shyly at her as she stood up and turned towards Logan who was sitting obediently in the chair in the centre of the room.

"Bye!" She almost yelled as if she had been struggling to find what to say and had settled suddenly on that one statement. She turned and hurried out of the room with Marci who was replaced by two other guards gesturing for Logan and Blue to follow them back to the cells.


	9. True friends

Lita grinned and ran into her mother's arms as soon as she saw her in the waiting room near the entrance to the prison. Marci smiled as she explained to the woman what had happened and that everything had gone as smoothly as they could have hoped for. The woman had been a nervous wreck, fully expecting her daughter to come out in floods of tears and in total panic over suddenly meeting a man that she had never met before who not only was suddenly thrust into her life as her father but was also a convicted murderer. The amount of relief she felt when the child had come into the room looking shy but not terrified was enough to make he go dizzy.

"He took things very slowly, just basically let her get used to him being there." Marci said as she escorted the woman and the child out of the building.

"So, you think she reacted ok to it? To being in there? She didn't get upset or anything?"

"No no. She was fine. She just sat down and played with the toys we put in there for her. Something about a unicorn and an octopus, I wish I had that sort of imagination again."

"Well she certainly keeps us on our toes! Next thing she comes out with will no doubt be aliens from other planets! More than likely they will be riding those unicorns or hers, they always seem to make an appearance in her little fantasies."

Marci smiled nervously at that one and just hoped for Blue's sake that when the girl told her mother about the strange boy she had played with in the prison that she just assumed that her daughter's imagination had taken over. Another visit date was booked in with the visitation officer and Marci accompanied the woman and the child to the outer perimeter. After waving goodbye to the child she made her way back inside a thoughtful frown accompanying the slight smile that seemed determined not to leave her face.

Back in the cell block Logan watched passively as the bars slid shut, trapping both himself and Blue back into their miserable reality. For such a fantastic yet far too brief a time he had actually forgotten everything except the children that had sat happily in front of him playing with the random collection of toys the prison had provided. Blue had clutched the 'unicorn' toy firmly in his hand insisting that he had to keep it safe for when Lita returned again. Holding onto something tightly always seemed to make the boy feel better and not having had Minion in the room with him had been an odd experience for the boy.

"So, how did it go Mr Logan? Sir?" Minion asked as he rolled his bubble out from his hiding place under the bed. He had taken to staying under there while the boy was not around as a few too many of the inmates seemed especially interested in the little fish.

"It went wonderfully!" Logan smiled to himself as he lay back on the bed, going over the afternoon's event in as much detail as he could.

"I like her." Blue stated suddenly, a small and secretive smile on his face. He had read about 'friends' in the books in the prison library and had always wanted to try one out for himself. He probably did class Minion as a friend but not the sort that the books talk about. The books had children playing together in the sun, doing extraordinary things like 'tree climbing' and 'swimming'. The thought of actually, possibly being able to maybe have someone to do all those things with made his head spin.

"She seemed to like you too, Blue." Logan muttered, his mind taking him back in time.

"Well, … I'm glad Sir!" Minion said, his voice wavering a little. He knew what the look on the boy's face meant. He was thinking of something that would be nearly impossible to make happen and that only made things worse as one of the first books the boy had read told him that "Nothing is impossible unless you believe it is." Oh that one sentence sure had a lot to answer for in Minion's opinion.

"Will I see her again, Mr Logan?" Blue asked, his green eyes alive with hope, something very rarely seen in a place such as his home.

"Oh, I think you just might, kid."

After the first few visits, Lita had settled into a comfortable and rather calm routine. The walk in and out of the prison was actually the worst part. Aside from the 'play room' as she called being a very strange room indeed, she had fun. The man her mother said was her Father was kind and gently and didn't try to force her to talk to him too much. He just sat there and helped them play their games. Blue was something else altogether. They had become friends instantly, even at 4 years old she was able to see how well his personality fit in with hers. He was very very smart and combining that with her imagination made the games they were playing some of the best she had ever played. It didn't take long for them to grow frustrated with the lack of toys and space in the room. Chasing games were fun, using the table and chair that Logan sat on and the legs of the prison guards as cover they ran around the circular room until they fell over in a heap of tangled limbs, dizzy and exhausted.

Blue also found each event involving the small girl the most entertaining of his young life. Was this how normal children lived their lives? Running and jumping and playing games with laughter and never resulting in pain or blood? He had often watched the man of the prison 'play' their games in the exercise yard, they never ended well and someone always ended up hurt. Blue had often wondered why the guards never did anything to stop it, he just assumed that it was part of normal life. Why would anyone ever bother stopping something that was normal? Pain and anguish was a normal part of the daily lives of everyone in the prison. Only Blue and Minion seemed to be spared from the physical aspects of their life behind bars, a fact that seemed to pass Blue by completely but dwelled in the back of minion's mind endlessly.

Minion looked up at the boy that was busy annotating a diagram drawn with crayon. He really had no idea how much the people around him did to protect him from the world he had suddenly found himself in. The small fish had been tasked with taking care of the boy and while he may not have been able to actually physically protect him, he could use knowledge as a weapon. So Minion watched the world around them with such care that he could confidently say that if someone whispered Blue's name, he knew about it. The fact that Logan was being held in solitary confinement more often and returning from the communal areas with more cuts and bruises than ever, was not lost on Minion.

The other inmates were becoming hostile. Blue was seen not only as an alien freak but also as the pet of the prison guards. Logan, being the only remaining member of the three men who had taken Blue in on the day he landed, had taken on the role of protecting the boy from the monsters that inhabited his world. He had ended up in countless fights with the other inmates over Blue and somehow always managed to fend them off. He had explained his behaviour to Marci, begging her to make sure that if he was ever placed in solitary for more than a day or so then she would make sure Blue was safe away from the others, even if that meant not letting him out of the cell. The boy was far too naive to be expected to cope with the sort of hatred and aggression that the pent up frustrations of the other inmates could generate. Minion was eternally grateful for everything Logan was sacrificing, he had read a lot of books about the judicial system and how behaviour during incarceration had a profound affect upon the amount of time spent serving a sentence. While he did not know a lot about Logan's crime, he knew that by defending Blue by physically fighting off the other inmates Logan was only increasing the amount of time it was going to take before he was allowed to walk free.

Minion was snapped out of his thoughts as the bars opened and the man himself limped back into the cell. Both of the occupants of the cell gasped at the sight as the guard closed the barred door behind the wounded man and left without saying a word. Logan limped over to the bed and collapsed gingerly onto his back, wincing in pain and holding his right side. He looked broken and had obviously been bleeding quite badly up until recently. His right arm was in a sling and bandages could be seen winding around one shoulder from under his orange uniform.

"Mr Logan, sir?" Minion asked tentatively when it became clear that Blue was too stunned to say anything.

"I'm ok kid, don't you go worrying about me." the man's voice was hoarse and he winced slightly when he breathed in.

Blue's keen eyes raked over the older man, quickly assessing any injury that could be seen. He had read the biology books that he had found in the library not too long ago after he became curious about how his looks differed from typical humans. From what he could see the man had probably dislocated his shoulder, had a few broken ribs and probably more bruising than one person deserved to have in their lifetime let alone in one instance. A broken collarbone was likely and the ribs were obviously causing difficulty in breathing. A broken nose and a fractured cheek bone were also making themselves clear giving the man what looked like two very impressive black eyes. Blue blinked, as if coming out of a trance once he had finished making his assessment. It was obvious the man had already received medical attention but surely he should be in the medical wing under observations. He was about to voice his concerns when the man spoke up again, struggling to get his own voice under control.

"I'm serious boys, don't go worrying about me. I just ran into a little trouble is all, nothing too major. I've already been patched up, they say I'll live so that's that ok?" He turned his head to look at the two creatures who were both staring back at him with such a varying mass of emotions Logan didn't really know which one to start with.

"It was about me again wasn't it?" Blue asked quietly, his face taking on a very serious expression with more than a little anger blazing in his green eyes. Minion looked up at the boy in shock, he truly didn't realise that his ward had noticed the beatings that the older man had been taking on a more and more regular basis.

"Don't be daft lad! Some of the thugs from D block just got it into themselves to cause some trouble, said I'd been doing something they didn't like so they decided to teach me a lesson. It's nothing I haven't lived through before you know. I hate to be the one to tell you this kid but the universe doesn't revolve around you." Somehow Logan managed to pull a recognisable smirk in an attempt to reassure the boy who looked as if he was going to burst into a fit of very angry tears.

"But -"

"No buts! Just let it go, I have. I'll be fine in a few days." Logan snapped with a wince and a moan of pain as he lay back down flat on the bed, "Just promise me something ok kiddo? Keep that bizarre head of yours down for the time being ok? If I'm not around don't go to far away from the guards, stick to Miss Marci if she is around ok? Or better yet, just stay hidden eh?"

Blue looked at the floor, angry at himself for being so helpless. He didn't want to be protected, he wanted to be able to look after himself. Why were people so mean that they would pick on such a nice man as Logan? That night, Blue lay awake scribbling madly into his sketch pad, devising something that he hoped would make everyone leave him, Minion and Mr Logan alone for good. He smirked at the drawing as he underlined it's title viscously, mashing the tip of the crayon into the paper.

The boy chuckled to himself in the dark, his papers illuminated by the light of the binky clutched firmly between his teeth. A Demoraliser ray would be perfect! Everyone in the prison was at least a bit depressed so enhancing those moods would be easy, all he needed to do was increase the specific chemical compounds within a target's body and they would enter a depression so deep that they would not even be able to sum up the energy to think about hurting someone let alone actually doing it.

"This will be fun!" Blue whispered to himself as he shut off the light from the binky and crawled under the sheets of his bed before closing his eyes and happily slipping into dreams where everything was perfect and everyone left him alone.


	10. Friends and family

The Warden stood at the window to his office, watching the scene down below him with veiled amusement. He could remember the day he first saw the child like it was yesterday, the tiny blue creature that looked as helpless and any child he had ever seen before. He had been new to the job, still as idealistic as a rooky and had agreed out of some sort of compassion to allow the child to stay within the walls of the prison. What had he been thinking? He shook is head slowly, still amazed at his own stupidity and wondering how things had remained ticking over for so very long.

The boy had to stay now, oh sure he should really have been in a 'young offenders'' institute but those places were so soft it would have been like a holiday camp for the boy. He had earned his first sentence before he could even say the word 'sentence' by building that tricycle and staging a breakout attempt in the name of 'fun'. Logan, one of the more, moralistic inmates, had promised to take the boy under his wing and help him to become something good and to protect him from the life the child had found himself in. It was all that woman's doing. Marci. She had must have used those 'wiles' of hers to get him to agree to her little scheme. Yes, that was the only explanation.

He felt a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips as he watched two children running around outside in the exercise area. Another request of Marci's. While everyone else was inside, why not let the boy play outside with Logan's daughter while she visited? Maybe contact with his peers would turn him around, she said. He had relented and allowed the children their 'play time' and everything seemed to be going ok, Logan was looking far too pleased with himself, but if it stopped the child from causing too much damage then maybe it was worth it. It hadn't quite been a year since the girl child had first visited her father and his pet but the boy's antics had definitely been reduced to mere annoyances.

A high-pitched squeal brought him out of his thoughts, causing him to focus on the children playing in the courtyard below. He had to stifle a chuckle as the squeal sounded out again, torn from the boy's lips as the girl mercilessly tickled him in the ribs. The Warden turned away from the window with one eyebrow raised in amusement. Maybe there was hope for the little delinquent yet.

Down in the exercise yard Logan could not stop the deep laughter that was rumbling out of his chest. His daughter had used some impressive skills to finally catch the lithe blue child and managed to get him onto his back, practically begging for mercy from her vicious tickle attack. He watched the two children roll together on the floor, Blue squirming in ways the older man never imagined possible in an attempt to get away from the clutches of the 5 year old who was torturing him.

Eventually the two of them stilled and lay in a tangled heap of child, both giggling uncontrollably.

"What was that all for?" Blue asked when he managed to catch his breath.

"I duno." Lita said with a shrug as she pulled herself up and brushed the dust off of her clothes, "We read a story in school about a spider that liked to go around and tickle people but that people were always afraid of it until they got tickled and they realised that it didn't really want to hurt them, only make the laugh." Her breathless explanation made the boy's head swim slightly as he tried to follow the plot line of the rushed story. A spider that just wanted to make people laugh?

"You like spiders?" He asked, he had read stories about girls being afraid of things like spiders and mice. They never really bothered Blue much, the rats were not nice, not nice at all, but spiders were ok.

"Yuh-huh! This girl at school was picking on me and called me names so I threw a spider at her. She screamed and screamed and I just laughed! It was so funny, being scared of something so tiny like that!"

"huh!" Blue chuckled to himself. This 'school' place sounded interesting, "What do you do in sschool?"

She looked back at him as if he had grown another head and just told her that the sky was a pretty shade of green today.

"We learn about stuff silly! Don't you go to school?" She asked, not really hearing him miss-pronounce the word school. He did that a lot but she never really picked up on it, she always knew what he meant.

"No, I just read about stuff in the library and Mr Logan teaches me stuff." He answered honestly as he drew his legs up to hug his knees to his chest. It seemed to be his default sitting position is Minion wasn't around.

"Really? You never go to school?"

"No."

"wow, that is so cool! No homework!" She grinned at him in a way that told him she was very impressed with the fact that he didn't have to go to school, "But what about friends?"

"I have Minion and Mr Logan, some of the other men here are ok but none are what the dictionary defines as a 'friend'." The look on the boy's face clearly showed that he was hardly affected by this at all. He was after all describing something that he had never truly experienced. Lita scrunched up her face, she was sure that the little fish she had met after her first few visits was his friend. They definitely acted like they were friends. Maybe he just didn't really know what a friend was.

"Am I your friend?" The girl asked in a shy quiet voice. Blue smiled, he always found it funny that she could go from sort of wild animal chasing him down and tickling him to the brink of madness and then stand up and get all shy.

"Errm…well, I think _you_ are _my_ friend." he said, suddenly unsure of himself, "Am I _your friend?"_

"_I think so." She smiled at him and for a moment they just stood there looking at each other. _

_Logan sat up straighter as he watched the odd little interaction from a bench at the side of the exercise yard. He couldn't hear what was going on but it looked like the two children were having a very deep conversation. Blue was still sat on the floor, his legs now crossed underneath him. That boy's ability to fidget without noise and without anyone noticing never ceased to amaze the man, he was sure that if the kid wanted to he could stroll right out the front door of the prison and no one would notice him. His little girl was stood in front of the boy, looking down at him with the air of a much older girl. 5 years old and able to hold down a steady adult conversation. Logan shook his head in wonder at how his life had turned out. What had he done to deserve having these two extraordinary creatures in his life?_

"_It seems they are getting on well." Minion's voice cut through the thoughtful silence. He too had been watching the two the whole time they had been playing, a happy little smile plastered onto his face. _

"_Yes, I think Blue has helped her to come out of her shell. I had a letter from her mother saying how pleased she was at how well Lita had been adjusting to her visits."_

"_I think she is bringing Sir out of his 'shell' also." Minion said as he glanced up at the older man, "I have never seen Sir this happy before without some inventing tools in his hands."_

"_You have a point there Little Fish." Logan relaxed back into the bench again with a contented sigh. He knew that time was almost up and he truly didn't want this feeling to end, "Her mother had the very same ability. She saw me for the person I was on the inside, not the person everyone else saw me to be."_

"_The person you were?" Minion asked, picking up on the one bit of that statement that Logan wished he had not voiced._

"_I've done a lot of things since I met her mother," He said as he gestured towards the girl in front of him, "A lot of it I am not proud of, so yes, Little Fish, I'm very much a different man now than I was back then. I'm just not sure which one was better."_

_Minion had never pried into Logan's past. He had heard the stories that were passed around the cells, it seemed that many of the inmates were proud of themselves for what they had done and greatly embellished the stories to the point of the ridiculous. There were a few, however that never talked about their crimes and Logan was one of those people. Minion had always taken this as remorse, why would someone ant to talk about something they wish hadn't happened? What it also said to Minion was that Logan was guilty of this crime. There were many men within the prison who loudly declared their innocence and that one day when they were cleared they would hunt down those responsible for their incarceration. Minion doubted their claims._

_When it became obvious that the older man was not going to continue Minion was about to ask what Logan had done to 'change' him when they were interrupted by the prison guard announcing the end of the visiting session. The two children stopped their game which had again degenerated into what looked to be a wrestling match with added tickle attacks, and looked sadly back towards the prison guard. Lita stood, quickly said goodbye to Blue before running to throw herself into her father's arms for a hug. The man grinned as big of a grin as he had the first time she had done it. It made his heart sing knowing that she had instinctively learned to accept and trust him. As he hugged her tightly he was suddenly filled with sadness, knowing that he had missed so much in her short life already. To bring up a child from day one would have been the most amazing experience._

_As he watched her walk unafraid towards the prison guard to be escorted back to her mother, a thought stuck him. He had indeed raised a child from new-born. He looked at Blue and a serene smile spread on his face as an idea formed in his head. It was such a wild and unlikely idea but it felt right! He stood suddenly, calling out for Blue to follow him back into the prison. The boy stood up instantly and ran over to Minion, scooping the fish's bubble up into his arms he quickly scurried after the man, unaware of the plan formulating in Logan's mind._


	11. Paving the way

"You want to _what_?" The Warden said, unable to hide the shock in his voice.

"I want to adopt him." Logan said, keeping his voice steady and his expression serious. He had been thinking about this for the past month, spending all the time he could get in the library and on the internet, researching his rights and whether it would be a legal possibility or not. He had discovered that while it would be difficult, it would not be impossible for a convict to adopt a child, prisoners had been allowed to get married whilst serving long sentences so an adoption would not be much different.

"Why?" The question was so simple, Logan didn't quite know what to say at first.

"Well," He started, trying to get his thoughts in order, "The kid needs someone to look after him, properly. He's smart, so smart it is _scary_! He needs someone to guide him, to be responsible for him, 'cos as soon as he realises that there is no one responsible for him, he is going to grow into a whole heap pf rebellious teenager."

"You think you being his guardian will make that much of a difference?"

"Yes sir I do." Logan answered, his hands clasped behind his back in an attempt to remain as non-threatening as possible.

"Is that the only reason?"

"No sir, I -" Logan paused, not accustomed to talking about his feelings to people like the Warden, "He is like a son to me, sir. I want to be like a father to him."

The warden examined the man stood before him closely. He had seen a change in Logan over the last few years. The man had come into the prison as a convicted murderer, withdrawn and sullen, with a distinct air of danger around him. His temper was the worst thing about the man, his self control was amazing but when something did make his temper snap, he erupted with all the ferocity of a raging volcano. He was the type of prisoner that was widely considered to be the most dangerous. The type of man that could look at you with a completely blank expression on his face and all the while be repressing the urge to rip your head off of your shoulders. And now this same man was asking for permission to adopt the prisons resident blue alien. The boy that the Warden had worked so damn hard to keep below the radar.

"What makes you think it would be legally possible, you are a convicted felon remember, and he isn't exactly a legal citizen." The Warden asked as he settled back into his chair, regarding the man with a cool expression.

"I know that sir," Logan sighed as he shifted on the spot, he hoped he had interpreted the laws correctly and that his intuition was right, "I have done some research, legal family proceedings are still possible for me as a convict, people get married in prison all the time, I know t wont be easy but I believe it is possible." He paused for a moment, hoping with all of his heart that, "As for Blue, sir, well I think that if he was really classed as an 'illegal alien' then he would not still be in here, he would have been taken away a long time ago Sir, but then I think you know that. Don't you sir?"

The warden was watching the man carefully, one eyebrow raided in either surprise or respect for the man in front of him. With a sigh he leaned forward and glanced at the prison guards stood by the door. They were both trusted guards, having had a lot to do with the child in question over the years since he had become an unexpected guest of the prison.

"You know, Logan, If you had put as much thought into the law, back before you came here, as you have done now then you would still have your whole life ahead of you."

"I'm aware of that sir, I will never be able to forget what I have done and I'm not asking for anyone's forgiveness. That is exactly why I want to do this for Blue, I see a lot of myself in the boy sir, I don't want him going down the same path I have walked." Logan said honestly, he figured his 'tough guy' reputation was already in tatters over the child, why not be honest with everyone now?

"That is admirable, I give you credit for that. And yes, I can see many of the same qualities you seem to find important in the boy. He is very quiet and withdrawn, whenever I look at him I'm reminded of my belief that it is the quiet ones you have to watch out for." The warden mused almost to himself, "But the question still remains, what makes you think the law will accept him as a legal citizen?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, sir, but I believe you have already dealt with that particular issue." Logan couldn't help the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Oh really?"

"Sir, Blue came to me a few months ago and said that he had enjoyed talking to the 'men in suits' who had been asking him all sorts of questions. He even asked me what was so special about a 'card that was green'." Logan managed to suppress the grin that threatened to spread on his face when he saw the look of surprise pass across the warden's face. His intuition had been bang on, Logan breathed a sigh of relief, that was one thing he no longer had to worry about.

"Yes, he does have a Green Card. I had to pull a few strings to get it but we were in a catch 22 situation. Without one we could not legally keep him here and we would have had to hand him over to the government yet with one he now has all the rights of an American citizen. You have this officer here to thank for my decision, never could say no to a begging woman." The last part was muttered under his breath as Logan tuned to look over his shoulder at the officer in question. Marci was doing her very best to repress a smile and refused to meet Logan's eyes.

"So, sir? Do you think it would be allowed? I will never ask for another thing again, I promise!" Logan's excitement at the possibility was beginning to get the better of him.

"You sound like my daughter, begging me for a puppy!" The Warden scoffed at the mans excited outburst, "Technically you should not be asking for this at all! You know how it works, we reward good behaviour and as I recall you have been detained in solitary, what is it…. Five times in the last 6 months? Why should I do anything for you?"

"I know I have gotten myself into trouble recently, sir, but that is part of why I want to do this. Each time I was placed in solitary it was because I was fighting to defend Blue, there are a lot of the other inmates that have taken against him. He has a habit of forgetting how much smarter he is that the other guys in here and they seem to take offence to that." Logan explained, wincing in memory of how badly he had had to beat up one man that had been particularly determined to cause the boy harm.

"Hmmmm, yes well that is no excuse for that sort of behaviour. That is what the guards are there for." The warden send a glare to the two guards stood by the door, to their credit they didn't even blink under the close scrutiny, "I will think it over Logan, but you must remember, if I allow this then it is down to you to keep the boy on the straight and narrow! Anything he does before he becomes an adult will be your responsibility! Do you understand that?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now get out of my sight! I sick of looking at you!" The warden snapped as he turned his back on the man to look out of the window. As he heard the door shoot behind them he smiled to himself. This might be just what the boy needs, a sense of self was very important o a child, and while Logan was an inmate for a very good reason, his moral code was one of the strongest the seasoned Warden had ever come across. Maybe the man was rite. Maybe having a sense of belonging would give the blue boy some direction in life.

* * *

><p>Logan returned to the exercise yard with a grin on his face, he found Blue sitting on a bench watching a game of basket ball and hurriedly making notes in the note book that never seemed to leave his grasp these days. Logan rolled his eyes as he realised the boy was trying to over think a simple game again. Working out trajectories and probabilities induced by wind direction and surface tension and the like. As he approached he noticed the boy tapping out some sort of pattern with his finger onto his thigh. That was a dead give away that the boy had allowed the world to slip away from him so he could concentrate on the task in hand, otherwise having other people witness little things like that would mortify the kid. Logan's face darkened as he realised who the boy was sitting next to.<p>

"Don't normally see you around this part of the yard Derek." Logan said, glaring daggers at the man sitting next to the impressionable young boy.

"Yeah well, it's a free country!" Derek laughed as he gestured to the yard around hem, "Well, almost."

"Anything I should know about?" Logan leaned over the man from behind the bench, Blue still hadn't taken his eyes off of the basketball game, nothing short of an explosion would snap him out of it.

"Like what, exactly?" Derek levelled a chilling gaze at Logan. This man was dangerous, Logan knew what the man was in for and frankly he was surprised the guards had allowed him into this part of the exercise yard. He was very clever and extremely likeable. That combined with his utterly disgusting choices of 'entertainment' meant he was one of the most dangerous animals in the entire prison. It chilled Logan's blood to wonder why he was here sitting next to the boy.

"What are you doing down here Derek? I know what goes on inside that sick little head of yours. You should know by now that I'm not one to be taken lightly!" Logan hissed into the man's ear with more venom than he ever thought possible.

"I honestly don't know what you mean Logan, the kid and I are just testing out a business agreement." Derek grinned as he looked to the boy, still deep in his trance. Logan instantly had the man by the collar of his prison uniform, hauling him over the back of the bench to slam him down onto the ground.

"Don't you ever, EVER look at him again you understand me? If I see you anywhere near him again I will make you wish you had never even heard of me or the boy!" Logan snarled as he slammed the back of the man's head into the ground for good measure.

Derek simply laughed from his position on the ground underneath the raging prisoner.

"The kid was just helping me with a bet on the game, that was all, nothing sinister." Derek was still smiling, despite watching Logan's fist hovering in the air ready to make contact with his face, "You don't honestly think I could ever harm the boy do you?"

"Don't play games with me Derek, I promise you, you will not win!" Logan hissed and released the man before the prison guards had enough on him to send him to solitary. He was going to have to get the guys together, if the likes of Derek were starting to take notice of the boy then everyone was going to have to band together to protect him, Logan couldn't spend every moment with the boy after all.

"Oh, hi Mr Logan!" Blue said in surprise, "Hey, where did the other man go?"

"He had to go back to his side of the yard." Logan said as he watched the man making his way back to the group of prisoners hanging around the back corner of the yard, "Listen Blue, that man is not a very good person to be hanging around with. I don't want you anywhere near him, you understand? If he comes up to you again I want you to go and find one of your Uncles ok? They will keep you safe."

"But he seemed nice." Blue said, his smile fading.

"I know, that is why I need you to stay away from him. He seems very nice but he isn't, he is a very very nasty person and all he wants to do is hurt you. The more you like him in the beginning the better it is for him. Just please, promise me you wont let him come near you again." Logan cupped his hands over the boy's cheeks as he stare into the boys brilliant green eyes to make sure he was taking everything in.

"Ok." The boy said simply.

"Cool, now, why don't you go and ask the guard if you can head off to the library, I think Uncle Stephan is in there today, You need to move onto those new encyclopaedias they just got it." Logan said as he stood up, pleased that the boy's face had brightened up again.

"Sure! Bye!" Blue said as he started trotting across to the prison guards, who escorted him back inside the building

Logan whistled to get the attention of some of the other man from his prison block, the ones that he considered loyal to him and had had contact with Blue from the beginning. After explaining what had happened with Derek the other men had been more than willing to go over there and to teach the guy a lesson he would never forget. Logan managed to calm them down and all agreed that they needed to keep a close eye on Blue to try and keep him out of that kind of trouble. Logan couldn't help but smile at the oddball family the boy had found himself with. It was the biggest bunch of misfits anyone could imagine but then no family was perfect and this was the only family the boy had.


	12. An offer accepted

Logan stood in the corner of the exercise yard scowling out at the other inmates making the most of the small amount of time they got outside of the cells. Blue sat on the bench besides him, having a quiet conversation with Minion, something abut the potential for severe energy flow reversals in the boy's latest great creation. Logan wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. A whispered comment from one of the men loyal to him and to Blue had alerted him to a very dangerous threat against the boy. Prisons were never friendly places but the one Blue had found himself in had at least a well established pecking order within the individual cell blocks. Everything had changed when the Warden decided that he could save administrative time by allowing all of the prisoners from each cell block to mix during their required daily exercise time.

The block Logan inhabited was a mid-security block. Specifically for those prisoners who had pleaded guilty and were considered low-risk re-offenders. Soon after being placed in that block Logan had emerged as a 'head prisoner' of sorts. He was a very intelligent man, knowing how to make the system work for them, so the other prisoners had fallen in with him to gain themselves a bit of a smoother ride. Not that Logan had asked to be some kind of leader. He just never could see the point in causing trouble for yourself so he had tried to teach the other inmates in his block the same common sense. In Brian's case he had taught the man that it wasn't always best to act on your very first impulse. Especially if that impulse told you that the person in front of you very much deserved to have their ear bitten off.

He was trying to teach the same thing to Blue but the boy was stubborn in his assessment of the world. The kid was dangerous for one simple reason. He knew, for an absolute fact, just how much smarter he was than all of the adults in his life. Logan thanked his lucky stars every night that the boy didn't seem to have a rebellious bone in his body or else the child would have been able to create mayhem on a level that no one could ever have contemplated before.

Today, Logan was seriously considering throwing all of those morals and sensibilities out of the window. The kind of anger that rose in his heart was one that he had only felt once before. He had acted on that anger then and it had gotten him placed in this god forsaken place. In an attempt to focus his mind he compared that event, so many years ago, to the one he was facing now. Or at least he tried, but was interrupted by the small voice of a very perceptive and all too smart child.

"Mr Logan?" Blue asked quietly, staring at the thunderous look on the man's face with veiled fright.

"What is it Blue?" Logan asked in a stony voice, not looking away from his surveillance of the court yard. He noticed a few other members of his cell block were also scanning the exercise area for any signs of their quarry.

"Are you ok? You look really mean." The boy all but whispered, a pout pulling on his lower lip cause Logan to remember just how young the child was. He was still only 5, an age where everything in the world around you is supposed to be wondrous and in dire need of exploration.

"I'm fine kiddo," Logan said as he rubbed his hand on the boy's head, "I'm just in a bit of a bad mood today is all."

Oh yes, the day had indeed started off with a dark clod hanging over it. He had been stopped in the cue for breakfast by on of his men, a man by the name of Louis, who was new in the prison and still was not really known to be deeply associated with any group in particular. The other groups in the prison had been approaching him, in an attempt to gain a member that was in another wing of the prison, one who could 'keep an eye' on Logan and his group. Logan had anticipated this and had asked the man to listen but to not commit to anything. That morning Louis had whispered into Logan's ear that Derek himself had promised the man an easy ride through his prison term if he could coax the blue child over to their side of the exercise yard. Logan had thanked the man for the information ad told him that it would be in his best interest to keep his head down and try to stay out of trouble.

Now, he was watching the edge of the exercise yard like a hawk, he would be damned if he let that creature get anywhere near the Blue ever again. While not an especially religious man, Logan was absolutely sure that there was a special level of hell reserved for monsters like Derek. Men who seemed to believe that children were their own personal playthings.

A squeak from Blue snapped him out of his musings, realising that he was actually beginning to scare the boy. He forced a light-hearted smile onto his face and crouched down next to the boy. He had to keep his mind on why he was doing this, he was considering added many more years onto his sentence by seriously injuring a fellow prisoner, all for this child. If he was honest with himself he would do more if he had to.

"Don't you be worrying yourself about me kid, you just think about you and that fish of yours. Remember what I said to you this morning ok? Don't talk to anyone who isn't from our block, yeah? Just keep you head down and that smart mouth of yours shut ok?"

The boy nodded just as a loud metallic thud echoed off of the prison walls. A fight had broken out on the opposite end of the basketball court, one unfortunate inmate was in the process of having his head slammed repeatedly against the unforgiving metal pole. Logan couldn't make out who the two men were, the crowd that always gathered around these skirmishes were creating a barrier he couldn't see around.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Logan recognised the shout of agony at almost exactly the same moment as he caught sight of Derek, leaning cockily against the fencing on the opposite side of the yard. The man screaming had been Louis, they had found him. Derek made a small movement with his hand while he maintained eye contact with Logan and a sickening thud was heard over the uproar. Logan didn't need to see to know what had happened. Louis was a scrawny man. He had been imprisoned for being a dirty accountant for one of the city's crime bosses. He had been hung out to dry for using 'unsavoury means' of collecting debts owed to his boss and no onward ties had been found. He was not the type of man who knew how to handle himself in a fight.

The sound of his body hitting the ground was proof of that.

Instantly Logan pushed away from the wall he had been leaning on and marched towards the spot where Derek stood smirking arrogantly. Logan rolled up one sleeve as he prepared himself to wipe that look off of the mans face for good. A body was suddenly blocking his path and he very nearly raised his fist to convince whoever the idiot was to get out of his way. Luckily, before he could dig himself a very very deep hole he recognised the stern face of Prison Guard Marci staring at him with an expression that could rival his own.

"I know what you are going to do and it is so definitely NOT going to happen Logan!" She hissed at him, "Look, I know who and what that bastard is and believe me, I'd dearly love to watch you beat the arrogance out of the git but you have too much riding on the Warden's opinion of you!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" He nearly yelled in her face, if she didn't move soon he was going to make her move, after all a shove wouldn't kill her.

"They have said 'yes', Logan!" She said, putting a warning hand on his chest and drawing the short baton that hung at her hip, "They said 'yes'! But they will take that all back if you do this!"

"What?" He gasped, not quite registering what she was saying.

"They said 'yes'. There is an appointment with the officials scheduled for next week. They said 'yes'!" She kept on repeating it, knowing that he knew what she was talking about, the fact that Logan wanted to legally adopt the boy was a closely guarded secret.

"They said yes?" Logan asked dumbly, the skirmish that was spreading to all points of the yard was now just background noise, as the woman in front of him nodded with a tiny smile on her face he desperately wanted to sweep her up into his arms and spin her around. Instead he felt a massive grin spread on his face as he barked out a laugh that looked utterly ridiculous considering the backdrop.

"Yes! Now get back to that kid of yours and get into the cell block. Playtime is over." She said as she turned back towards a group of men who were just about to start rearranging each others faces.

Logan looked up, noting with a stab of fear that Derek was nowhere to be seen. He span on his heel and immediately broke into a run, cursing himself for being so stupid. Derek was standing amongst the fight, as if surrounded by a protective bubble. He was completely focused on one thing and one thing only. Blue sat in exactly the same position, watching the fight nervously, Minion twitching in his bowl trying to keep an eye on everyone at once. Suddenly Logan was in front of them, lifting Blue up into his arms, he shot a warning glare over his shoulder at Derek. Logan suppressed a smile as he noticed a small group of men sneaking up behind the leering Derek, he turned away, shielding the boy's face before he could see what they were going to do to the man.

Without another word Logan joined the ranks of 'obedient' prisoners being escorted back into the cells. After all, Lita had a visit scheduled for that afternoon, it wouldn't be very good if he had been beaten black and blue now would it?

After they had been returned to their cell and the fights had been stopped Logan sat in silence, just watching Blue read through an encyclopaedia. The child had always been intelligent, impossibly so, but it wasn't until they boy had been introduced to Lita, Logan's daughter, that his imagination had taken that intelligence and made it into something spectacular. The boy had suddenly begun to wonder about the world outside of the prison and had literally begged for the encyclopaedia series that would show him what the world he had crash landed on was truly like.

Logan sighed as he looked away from the boy, noting not for the first time the fact that the child's fish was staring at him.

"What is it Little Fish?" Logan asked, meeting the fish's gaze suddenly.

"I was wondering what you and Miss Marci were talking about earlier Mr Logan." The fish stated simply, his eyes never leaving Logan's as he searched them for answers. Minion was all too aware of the fact that Logan had been keeping secrets from them since day 1. He had the feeling that the man was not doing it out of malice but more to protect the boy. Logan had demons in his past which he seemed to still be very afraid of.

"She was giving me some good news, something that concerns our boy Blue here, and you as well. " Logan paused, not sure how to approach this conversation, "Well, you know a while ago why the Warden had Blue sign those papers for his Green Card? Well, I really don't know how the Warden managed to pull that one but he pulled those strings again and made something happen, something that I hope you and Blue would be happy with." He looked over to the boy who was now watching him, paying close attention to what the man was saying to the fish.

"Come here kiddo." Logan gestured to the boy who instantly stood up and went to sit on the hard bed next to Logan, "Have you read about something called 'Adoption' yet?"

"It was in the dictionary I read a while ago." Blue nodded simply, answering the question as it was posed to him, "It is when a couple takes on a child that is not their own and makes that child part of their family legally."

"Yep, that's the one." Logan smiled as he rubbed his hand on the top of the boy's bald head, "Well, I was talking with the Warden the other day about you. And how much you get on with Lita and well, I got to thinking'… How would you like to be part of my family? I mean properly. How would you like it if I adopted you?"

Blue sat there looking up at the man with a careful expression on his face. Logan knew what that look meant, it meant he was thinking very very carefully. He was pulling up all of the information he had stored on the subject and trying to apply it to his current position. He was over thinking things.

"Hey," Logan said as he knelt down on the floor in front of the child, a grin spreading on his face, "I don't wanna know what you think you should do, I want to know what you want to do! Don't think with this," Logan tapped the boy on his forehead gently, "Think with this." he said as he gently poked the same finger onto the boys chest, right above his heart.

After a few moments of staring down at his own chest Blue looked up into Logan's eyes, a smile dawning on his face.

"What would my name be?" Blue asked causing Logan to chuckle, he was expecting harder questions.

"Well, that depends, when you filled out the forms with the Warden what did they say your name was then?"

"Jonathan Doe." Blue answered simply.

"You have got to be kidding!" Logan said suddenly, causing blue to jump slightly, "That is the best they could come up with 'John Doe'?"

"Not John, Jonathan." Blue corrected, a helpful little smile on his face.

"Huh. Well, that's something I guess. Anyway," Logan shook his head bringing himself back onto the subject at hand, "Well, If you agree to this then you would get my last name, do you know what it is?"

Blue shook his head, honestly never considering what his protector's last name was. No one in the prison used them, oh some of the guards insisted on the prisoners addressing them by their last names but that was only a few. Minion believed it was to subtract something from the prisoner's identity.

"Well, My name is Logan Sandiego, so, legally that would make you Jonathan Sandiego, though I think we will have to put the name 'Blue' in there somewhere too! I am not going to start calling you 'John'! So … what do you say?" Blue looked thoughtful for a while until a huge grin spread on his face. He looked up at the man with a glint in his eyes that Logan had never seen before.

"Does this mean I get to call you Pa?"

* * *

><p><em>For some reason this one was very hard to write so please forgve me if it seems a bit forced. My muse has moved on to he next part of the story already leaving me to try and fill in the gaps. From now on the story will start to follow Blue more closely...and soon it is school time! <em>

_Thank you for reading and feel free to comment._

_OAG._


	13. The duty of a sibling

"So, you'll be like my brother or something?" Lita asked looking from her father to the blue boy sat cross legged on the patch of carpet. Logan had just finished explaining to her that he was wanting to formally adopt Blue and had asked her what she thought of the idea. He smiled at her response, noting happily the similarities between the girls reaction and the response Blue had given a few hours before. The two had only known each other for about a year yet they seemed to share some sort of connection, most of the time it was like they each knew what the other was thinking.

"Yeah, that's exactly rite sweetheart." Logan smiled down at his daughter, "what do you think of that?"

"Cool!" The girl said simply, as if he had just suggested going to a theme park, "I think I'd like a brother, do you want me to be your sister?"

"Yes, I think so." Blue said, a shy blush spreading across his face, "I don't really know what a sister does, or a brother for that matter."

"I'll show you! Lita said happily as she leaned over and grabbed a handful of toys, "You see these two?" She gestured to two of the tows, a pair of Weebles made to look like a boy and a girl, "These two are brother and sister, and these others are people who don't like them. It is the brother's job to stop he other people from picking on his sister and it is the sister's job to make sure the brother doesn't get himself into trouble. They also should be best friends, even though the brother is a boy and everyone knows girls are way better than boys!"

Logan couldn't help but chuckle at the pair, noting out of the corner of his eye that Marci was having trouble holding herself together also. The pair of them were so alike it was scary. Both were amazingly intelligent and yet they were both so capable of such untainted innocence.

"Oh I see, a brother is like a protector, like Minion is for me." Blue turned to smile at his friend who was perched up on the small table.

"Yeah!" Lita agreed enthusiastically, she had met the fish some time ago and after a few moments of being a little scared of the strange creature with the big teeth, her curiosity got the better of her and she had approached the fish, utterly delighted when she found out he could talk. A talking animal was very high on her list of 'bestest' things in the world! "He is like a brother and a sister rolled into one, he helps to protect you from mean people but he also tries to stop you from getting into trouble."

The fish was grinning proudly, fluttering his fins with a smug smile on his face. Logan snapped the fish out of his thoughts with a sharp laugh.

"Well, he needs more practice at that last one!" The man laughed openly at the look of shock on Minion's face and gave his bowl an affectionate flick with his finger.

"Pa…?" Lita began, obviously unsure of how to continue, "If you are going to be Blue's Pa too… Does that mean that Mommy is going to be his mommy to?"

Logan closed his eyes for a moment, that was one question he really didn't want to hear. It had taken him a long time to get used to her using the word 'Pa' for him and 'Daddy' for her Mother's new partner. He didn't begrudge the woman a new start in life, he took it as part of his punishment for his crime but the fact that the other man had taught his daughter to call him 'Daddy' stung more than a little.

"No, love." Logan said when he realised both children were looking up at him expectantly, "Your Mommy is just going to be your mommy ok? But I'm going to be 'Pa' for both you and Blue, do you understand?"

"Ok." The girl said, seemingly unphased and moved on to playing with the toys in front of them, "I think that's good, Mommy thinks I'm making things up anyway."

"Making things up?" Blue asked, confused by the girls statement.

"I told her all about you," Lita didn't notice her father hesitate as he reached for one of the toys in front of the children, "at first she told me not to tell lies, that there wasn't a blue boy in Pa's prison, now she just thinks I'm making up stories about an imaginary friend."

"She doesn't think I'm real?"

"Nope."

"oh." Blue looked upset for a moment as he considered how exactly he should be feeling given that new information.

"Don't worry about it Sir, it is probably for the best, Mr Warden says the fewer people who know about you the better." Minion said as he bounced himself off of the table to come to a rest up against the boy's leg.

"The little fish is rite kiddo." Logan said, grateful to the fish for voicing what he couldn't put into words, "If too many people find out about you being here and how special you are then they might want to take you away and put you somewhere else. I really don't want that to happen, I like you too much."

"You mean like Scientists?" Blue asked with a distant look in his amazing green eyes.

"What? Where did you hear that?"

"I read it in one of the books in the library. There was an alien that crash landed in the desert and some scientists took it away and did all sorts of experiments on it." Blue was fiddling with a collection of tiny plastic monkeys that seemed to refuse to come apart from each other, "Bur no one is supposed to know about it. The book said it was a con - conspi -"

"Conspiracy?" Logan interrupted, the boy obviously having trouble pronouncing the word.

"Yeah. The Government know all about it though, but they don't tell anyone about it. When I took the book back Mr Guard Henderson said they would be coming to get me soon." Blue shrugged to himself as he finally managed to detach all of the monkeys from one another, "I don't think they will, I'm not very special."

"Oh don't you listen to him! He's an idiot!" Logan said as he cast a wary glance over to the guards stood by the door to the round room, "Besides, you know what I think? I think you are waaaay too smart to get taken away by some stupid scientists!"

"Uh-huh." Blue nodded, turning his focus to having the newly detached monkey army storm a dolls house, "I'd get away from them and find my way back here no problem. The book says they rely a lot on technology based security devices. They wont be a problem." Logan had to laugh at the boy's confidence. The way the kid was speaking was as if he was simply reciting a fact and not boasting about his own abilities.

"You know Blue, that is the first time I have ever heard of anyone wanting to break into a prison!" Logan gave the child an affectionate shove.

"what about school?" Lita asked suddenly, looking up at her father with a worried expression, "Is Blue going to go to school like I am soon?"

"School?" Blue asked, his focus on his game breaking, "What is school?"

"School is a place where children go to learn things. There is a teacher there who talks to you and tells you all about lots and lots of things. You know how you have been learning from those encyclopaedias? Well school is kind of like that but with other kids around you and a teacher instead of just a book." Logan watched the boy's expression carefully, noting with a sense of trepidation the emerging look of wonder on the boy's face, "Oh, Blue. I really don't think that is a good idea!"

"Why not?" Blue asked with a frown.

"Well, it's like we were just saying, the fewer people who know about you the better. Besides, you are smart enough as it is aren't ya? You don't need any help."

"Does that mean I don't have to go to school either?" Lita asked. Logan winced visibly, wanting to somehow back track and stop this conversation from ever happening.

"No, you most definitely have to go to school."

"But why?"

"Because, I said so."

"But you said that I'm just as smart as Blue so if he doesn't need to go to school because he is smart enough then why do I have to?" Lita asked, folding her arms over her chest, her frown deepening into a full blown scowl.

"Just because! The two situations are very different."

"You mean I'm different." Blue said quietly.

"No, Blue!" Logan got the feeling that he would never be able to get himself out of this hole he suddenly found himself digging, "Not in the way you mean anyway, look, school would be too dangerous for you, not everyone is as understanding as we are."

"You mean a school with kids my own age is a worse place than a prison with people like Mr Derek?" Blue asked, there was an angry glint in his eyes that Logan had never seen before. They boy was very good at covering up his emotions. Logan made a mental note to never mistake the child's seemingly dazed state for one of complete obliviousness again, from the look the boy was levelling directly into his eyes he could tell the boy saw everything and stored any piece of information he could get his hands on in that huge brain of his. If the boy didn't find a way of dealing with his emotions rather than bottling them all up he was liable to explode.

"No, but…" Logan was really at a loss for what to say, he was beginning to think he was not cut out for this fatherhood thing after all, "You are far too smart for your own good and don't you just damn well know it eh squirt?"

"That's what everyone keeps telling me." The uneasy smile was back on the boy's face, the moment of anger obviously having passed.

"If Blue doesn't have to go to school then neither do I!" Lita stated confidently before turning back to her toys as if to say that was the end of the conversation.

"Oh no you don't missy! You cant pull that one on me! You are going to keep on going to school and that is the last of it! And as for you, do you realise how much trouble you have caused me today? I'll see what I can do… and don't give me those blasted puppy-dog eyes!"

Blue grinned to himself, excited over the prospect of going to a real school. Meeting more children like Lita who he could be friends with and play with. He would have so many friends that he could show all of his ideas to. 'Oh yes!' the boy thought to himself, 'School is going to be absolutely fantastic!'

Minion looked up at the boy, a worried expression lingering on his face. The point still remained that it was dangerous for the boy to have too much attention drawn to him but on the other hand they could not keep him caged forever. Sooner or later the boy was going to realise exactly what was out there waiting for him and when he did, minion feared that nothing could stop him from reaching for it.

* * *

><p>The Warden sighed, massaging his aching head with his fingers as he glared down at the piece of paper on the desk in front of him. It was a letter from a friend of his within the CPS. He had contacted the man a few months ago when it became clear that the blue child's legal status was going to cause them a problem. His contact had pulled whatever strings he had to, and some that he really didn't want to have to, to get the strange boy growing up in the Metro City prison for the criminally gifted declared as a legal citizen of the US. The boy had been legally declared as Jonathan Doe, an orphan of unknown origin that had come to reside in the prison after he was found abandoned within it's walls. The Warden had used a flimsy 'trespassing' excuse to justify keeping the child in the prison but while the boy's Green Card had kept the more serious attention away, there was still the trouble of justifying while a 5 year old orphaned citizen was being brought up in a prison. There had been multiple appeals sent to him, asking him to hand custody of the boy over to the CPS who would take proper care of him. Needless to say they were not fully aware of the boy's… condition. He couldn't help but smirk at the thought of what their faces would look like when they saw the child for the first time.<p>

Prisoner Logan's wish to adopt the boy would take care of the problem with the child having no legal guardian. It was common practice in women's prisons for mothers to be allowed to keep their children with them… although that never tended to last until the child was as old as Blue, but still with no other relatives there was a slim chance the authorities would accept that and move on…or at lease file the case on some dusty shelf for a while.

He had contacted his friend again, knowing that he was pushing his luck with this request. The response was tense to say the least, he had made it clear to the Warden that if he was to do this then it would be the last time he put his neck on the line for the man, long term friendship or not. Yet he had consented, and would do what needed to be done to make sure that the adoption was pushed through as discreetly as possible and of course bypassing much of the 'red-tape' normally associated with the process.

Now Marci had informed him of the boy's wish to attend a school! There was a school next to the prison which catered for "li'l gifted kids" as the hand painted sign proudly declared. He also had it on good authority that the school was used to handling 'unusual' children. It was the school that the son of the city's richest residents attended and there were all sorts of rumours circulating about that boy's abilities. Wayne Scott was something of a modern miracle to many, somehow having obtained the power of flight and immense strength among other things. He supposed that could work in their favour. Having a boy hat strong in the class would ensure that Blue could not possibly cause too much trouble. A regular day-release pass would not be difficult to justify considering that exposure to a structured school environment could only help the boy to develop a better understanding of rite and wrong and about the world around him. And lord only know that some time away from the riff-raff in the prison could only be a good thing.

The Warden let out another long suffering sigh before turning his chair to face the windows. He was finally certain, that boy was going to be the death of him.


	14. First day of school

He sat on the bus clutching Minion's bubble solidly to his chest in his usual nervous way yet Marci could see the excited shy smile on his face. She tutted to herself as she turned away, watching the road wiz past as the prison bus made the ludicrously short journey from the prison gates to the door of the Metro City Li'l Gifted School for Li'l Gifted Kids. It was a shame that 'Health and Safety' would not let them simply walk to the next block over where the school was located, the fresh air and exercise would have done the boy's nerves a world of good.

Minion had been chattering to him nervously since early that morning yet he didn't seem to be able to get through to the trembling boy at all. She felt so sorry for the kid, there he was, dressed in his prison regulation bright orange uniform looking for all the world like a kicked puppy and he didn't have a clue what he was letting himself in for. She truly could not believe that the Warden had gone along with this plan. She knew how… evil children could be to each other. She herself had been the victim of pre-teen bullying herself and she knew that the worst wars were fought on the playground with sticks and stones. She simply hoped that the boy was made from tough stuff.

Blue, however, was beside himself with excitement. He had been talking about it non-top since Logan had told him that the Warden had secures himself a place in the local school. Logan was still concerned and Minion was nervous as usual but Blue was determined to make a good impression on his first day. He had even gone without a clean uniform for the best part of a week so he had something fresh to wear on his first day.

The bus pulled up directly outside of the door to the tiny red building and Blue cautiously stepped off the but with a smile on his face, trying his bets to ignore the fact that his hands were still chained together. One of the officers escorted him to the tiny porch at the entrance to the building and unlocked the cuffs from his wrists. Blue was oblivious to everything the officer was doing as he was too busy taking in the sight in front of him. The school only had one room and it was already full of children laughing and playing together. They all seemed so happy.

A grin spread on the boy's face as he let the atmosphere sink in. He was already working through a vast number of different possibilities when the smile dropped off of his face. Up above the level of the playing children was another boy. A flying boy. HE was holding the teacher's desk in mid air and spinning it around effortlessly with the teacher clinging to the top of it, laughing. The noise in the room died as the children started to notice the strange boy standing in the doorway yet Blue never took his eyes off the flying boy.

His mind was racing, trying to calculate the probability that it could be him! The same boy he had seen while he was on his journey to Earth. The boy from his neighbouring planet. The one that had knocked him off course.

Minion levelled his most intimidating glare at the flying boy that was now staring at them with a cocky sneer on his face. He had placed the desk and the teacher back on the ground and was striking some ridiculous pose with his arms crossed over his expensively clothed chest whilst still hovering a couple of feet off of the ground.

"Miss Vodalair? This is your new student, we call 'im Blue. For, err… obvious reasons." The office by his side chuckled at his own joke, "Now, this one is a bit of a trouble maker, thinks he's something of a smart one. You'll have to watch 'im and be sure to call us if he does anything." With that the officer nodded to the teacher and closed the doors to the school house as he left. The bus could clearly be heard as it drove away, giving the boy something of a 'boxed in' feeling.

"Well then 'Blue'," Miss Vodalair said as she straightened the things on her desk and fixed a few stray hairs, "I hope you know how to behave yourself. The Warden has assured me that you are of no harm to anyone here but it is against my better judgement and advice that you are here at all. The order to allow you to attend came from higher up than myself but that does not mean that we shall put up with any trouble, so you understand me?" Before Blue could nod in agreement the teacher continued, "Of course you don't what was I thinking. That a child of your age could understand the complicated processes involved in allowing a … creature like you to mix with the general populace."

Blue simply stood quietly. He was told in no uncertain terms by the Warden that he was only to speak when asked a direct question. Minion, however, was so angry that his water was almost boiling. H glared at the woman and bared his teeth in a snarl yet kept quiet. It would do Blue no good what so ever if the fish upset the teacher so early on.

"Well don't just stand there staring! Go and get a chair out of the corner, honestly!" The teacher rolled her eyes before putting a sweet smile on her face and addressing the other children, "Now then children, get your chairs and make a semi-circle! Yes, good, Wayne would you give them a hand please?"

Blue had been struggling to get a single chair down from the high pile of stacked chairs in the corner of the room, finally having managed to do it on his own he stood in astonishment as the flying boy lifted up all of the chairs at once and placed them in a neat curved line in front of the teachers desk. All of the children were sat, ready to pay attention to their lesson, while Blue was still staring. Miss Vodalair tutted loudly before pointing at a spot on the floor at one end of the line, watching as blue dragged the chair over to the pot while awkwardly holding Minion's bubble in one arm.

"Ok class, as you have all undoubtedly noticed, we have a new classmate with us today. You can all call him 'Blue'. He is from a special prisoner education program being run by the Metro City Prison. I'm sure that, in time, he will... " She looked over at the boy with one eyebrow raised sceptically, "fit in."

Blue's interest was peaked again when the lessons started, basic English and maths were the lessons on that day and he answered any and every question put to the class. At least he did until the teacher informed him that no one liked a show off. After that he had kept his head down and only answered questions when the teacher directed them at him specifically, which wasn't often.

During their 'free expression' time Blue sat in a corner of the playground with Minion, whispering quietly to each other whilst Blue watched the other children playing. Not one of them came anywhere near the two and even resorted to playing a different game when the ball they were playing with bounced over to Blue's side.

"Why don't they like me Minion? Lita likes me, why don't they?" Blue asked in a small voice, scanning the faces of the children playing happily in front of him.

"I don't know Sir." Minion sighed as he too looked out over the crowd.

"That boy seems to be the head of their group, maybe if I could talk to him, the others would talk to me too." Blue said as he watched the flying boy retrieve a Frisbee out of a tree. Minion looked from Blue and back to Wayne, as the teacher had called him. The boy was stunningly optimistic, always utterly convinced that all he had to do was to work out some way of getting on someone's good side, then everything would be ok. This Wayne boy looked different though. He looked like he had never had to truly try or want for anything in his life. His clothes were obviously designer with some silly yellow jumper tied loosely around his neck like a cape. His expression was one of constant superiority and he seemed to revel in the attention he was getting from the other children. Even the teacher seemed to hand on the boy's every action.

"It could be worth a try Sir," Minion said hesitantly, "but I'm not so sure about him."

"Don't worry Minion, it's like Miss Marci said, people just need to give me a chance, to get to know me, then they will see how good I am!"

With that Blue stood up and, with what he hoped was a disarming smile, approached the children playing at the other end of the playground. Instantly Wayne was standing in front of him with a scowl on his face.

"What do you think you are doing?" Wayne said in a hushed tone.

"I was wondering if... if I could play with you all?" Blue asked, trying to keep hold of the confidence that was suddenly draining out of his body.

"Why would we play with you?"

"Well, I just thought-"

"You came from there didn't you?" Wayne said, nodding in the direction of the prison looming over the school only a short walk away.

"Well, yes, but -"

"So you are a criminal then?"

"No, I just ended up-"

"Only criminals live in a prison. YOU live in a prison, that means you must be a criminal." Wayne stated with such confidence that Blue felt a pang of shame for even suggesting otherwise.

"But-"

"Criminals are bad people. We don't want to play with anyone like that." With that Wayne flew off to the other kids who all buzzed around him excitedly, congratulating him on fending off the savage criminal that threatened their game. Blue stood there dumfounded and confused by the boy's stream of logic while minion was absolutely fuming. The boy trembled as he turned numbly and walked back to his place against the wall.

"Minion?" The boy asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"Don't you listen to him Sir! What he said isn't true!"

"But it is. Prison is a place for criminals and bad people." Blue's lip trembled as he followed that true statement right down the only logical thought process he could see, "That means, I must be..."

"Sir, No!" Minion bounced his bubble against the boy's chest to get his attention, "You can't believe that! No one else does! That boy is just a bully! This is only the first day Sir, we knew it would not be easy, we know that people are sometimes a bit... surprised to see us."

"I know, but-"

"No buts, Sir!" Minion looked as if he was going to continue but the laughter of the children on the playground had turned into sniggering. Both Blue and Minion looked up and saw that the gang of kids were not actually looking at them but at something off to their side. Blue turned his head and gasped at what he saw. A girl was stood with one leg in a full plaster cast came hobbling out into the playground on two crutches. She scanned the playground carefully, giving Blue enough of a look at her face to see that she also had some form of visual impairment as well. He frowned as he looked back at the other children wondering why they were laughing at her. His curiosity got the better of his and he called out to the girl.

"Why are they laughing at you? You are one of them aren't you?" He asked simply when she turned to look down at him. He could see her hesitate when she looked at him and he was about to turn away, not expecting a response.

"I'm kinda clumsy." She shrugged with a slight smile, "They think I'm weird."

"Because you damaged your leg?" Blue couldn't understand the logic behind that one.

"No, not because of the leg. I can't see very well, they say I can't see in a straight line." The girl looked back towards the other kids who had by then gone back to their games. She leaned heavily against the wall, stretching her arms while she ha the opportunity. "I was playing a game they thought of, it was like an assault course, like on TV. I fell off of the climbing frame and broke my leg."

"I'm sorry." Blue said out of reflex, he had read about assault courses, they had been used to train people for the Army, why were children doing things like that? "wait, they laugh at you because of your eyes?"

"Yeah," She shrugged again, "I'm used to it. Been like this all my life. My name is Grace, stupid I know!"

"I don't think it's stupid!" Blue said as he stood up quickly, nearly dropping Minion in the process, "My name is Blue, Can't get sillier than that."

"No, I like it." She smiled at him, finally being able to get a proper look at him as he stood in front of her., "You don't seem like the others."

"You're not like them either. They don't seem very nice." Blue stated simply, the smile dropping off his face.

"They're not so bad," She said as she looked back towards the other kids some of whom were whispering and pointing over in the direction of the pair, "Just don't let them see you are scared of them. This one girl that came in last year, she cried because they poured a drink over her painting. She never stopped crying whenever they looked at her, she had to leave."

Blue was about to say something else when the teacher rang a bell loudly that signalled the start of another lesson. He smiled at Grace as he watched her pick up her crutches again and struggle into the classroom. Later on hat day he noticed how closely Wayne was sticking to Grace, finding every opportunity to talk to her. Blue sighed to himself and decided it would be best to keep his head down and just hoped that people got used to him soon.


	15. Paper and string

Minion looked up at the boy in worry as he walked through the maze of corridors within the prison walls. Blue was dragging his feet and had his head down with his eyes on the floor, taking in deep breaths to try and hold back the trembles that were threatening to spread through his entire body. Minion had never before whished so hard that he was not just a fish. If he had been a mammal, _any mammal_ then he would have been able to do something to stop those horrible children back at the school. The rest of the day had continued in the same way as it started, with Blue sat at the back of the class with all of the worst materials to use during the art session. The broken brushes and dried up paints were all that he had been given so he resorted to using his fingers, only to be ridiculed by the other children for acting like a 'baby'. One of the other children had 'tripped' as he was walking past Blue's table and had fallen against it, spilling the cup of dirty water all over Blue's painting, smudging it beyond recognition.

The teacher had simply scolded Blue for raising his voice against the other child.

Minion knew that the boy would not talk about anything with him or with anyone for a good while yet so he resigned himself to quietly seething inside his bubble until he could try and make toe boy feel better. He didn't even notice when Blue's restraints were removed and the gate closed behind him leaving blue free to roam the cell block during it's allotted 'free time'.

Suddenly Blue's back straitened and he lifted his head, a small smile spreading on his lips. Minion frowned in confusion at the child's sudden change in behaviour. The boy even stopped to talk to a couple of his Uncles as he made his way to his cell. Logan was nowhere to be seen so the boy simply took out his coloured pencils and brightly coloured paper and began to make notes on whatever thought seemed to cross him mind.

"Sir?" Minion said tentatively, "what are you doing?"

"Planning." the boy said simply, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Planning, what Sir?"

"A way to get the other kids to like me, Minion!" Blue said, excitement clear in his voice, "This will make everything ok, I'm sure of it!"

"Ok Sir, but why all the small pieces of paper?" Minion gestured a fin over the increasing amount of note paper scattered across the floor of the cell.

"I need to see it all." He answered cryptically, glancing suddenly up the ceiling of the cell. Without warning the boy stood, head tilted back, examining the ceiling so intensively that Minion found himself looking up too, wondering what the boy was looking at.

"Sir?"

"String!" Blue yelled as if it was the answer to a question he had been pondering his entire life.

"Pardon me, Sir?" Minion found himself rather stunned at the sudden outburst.

"String, Minion." Blue repeated, his voice gaining a far away quality as he lost himself in his imaginings, "I need to find some string."

"what for, Sir?" Minion's question was met with silence as Blue sat back down on the floor again, scribbling furiously into his sketch pad. With a sigh Minion settled into his bubble to watch the boy work.

"What's all the noise about squirt?" Marci's voice sounded suddenly from the door to the cell, she stood there, leaning against the door frame with her baton dangling casually from one hand. Her face was turned into the cell but Minion could see her eyes flicking regularly as she checked the other prisoners in her peripheral vision. The men on this block were not of any real danger to her, not in the way that many people assumed when she told them she was a prison guard, yet it still paid to keep a careful watch of them.

"Miss Marci!" Blue cried haply as he span round to face her, Minion smiled at the look on his face and he silently thanked whatever higher understanding had thought to send a person like her to be close to the boy. He needed some form of mother figure in his life and Minion was so glad that it had not turned out to be that horrible teacher.

"I was just thinking," Blue began as he stood up, his hands clasped in front of him, "I need some string, so I can plan things properly!"

"Plan things?" Marci laughed to herself, "not planning on making an escape attempt are ya?" She asked, one eyebrow cocked humouring.

"No, no, nothing like that. I want to do something to make the kids at school like me more but I need some string so I can plan properly!" Blue stated as if it was just something she should have been able to realise anyway.

Marci sighed as she scratched her head thoughtfully as she watched the confusing little boy. He seemed to forget that he was the only one in the world who knew what was going on inside his own head. It was like he expected everyone else around him to be able to see the world they way he did.

"I'll see what I can do." Marci said with a chuckle as she left the front of the cell. She could even imagine that when the boy looked at something he could see it in it's schematic form, like a 3D exploded diagram coming to life in front of him. She ran through a list of possibilities in her head as to what she could give him. If he wanted to cut the strings to length then Scissors were out of the question, not in the cell block anyway. A thought hit her so suddenly she actually almost stumbled as she paced the length of the block. She tried desperately to keep the smirk off of her face as she formulated a plan in her mind, oh she was going to make that kid's day!

Something was wrong. Blue's eyes snapped open in the darkness, instantly awake. Without making a sound he shifted out of his bed and stood on the edge to peer over the top of the top bunk. Logan had not come back at all. Blue had worked himself into a frenzy with ideas and plans for things to try out at school, so much so that he had dragged his aching body into the bed for a quick nap after dinner and he had fallen asleep. It was now the middle of the night, minion was sleeping soundly in his bubble and the block was deathly silent.

Moving to the front of his cell, Blue pressed himself up against the bars, scanning the dark corridor for any signs of life. There was a guard sat at a table at the far end of the corridor but judging by his slumped body position he seemed to be asleep. Blue rolled his eyes as he frowned in thought. This was very strange and very, very bad. Normally someone would have known where Logan was and would have told him. It must have been something official as no one had woken the boy up to question him about the location of his cell mate when it came to lock-down.

Blue examined the bars on the front of his cell very closely, paying special attention to the locking mechanism. It appeared to be a simple electronic magnet system, Blue remembered seeing each of the doors close all at the same time when the guards pushed a button on the wall. There was also an individual deadbolt mechanism, key operated it seemed, that would turn off the magnets and release that door individually. The door ran along a metal track which had some form of internal motor that allowed the door to open and close automatically. Disabling the lock and releasing the motors would be no problem if he had the right tools, the sleeping guard was not an issue if he could be quiet enough but there were security cameras everywhere.

A sense of panic and worry had settled onto his heart as he studied the corridor carefully. Something was terribly wrong and here he was trapped like an animal and no one seemed to want to help. He considered shouting for the guard and just asking but when he finally managed to get a look at the guards face he reconsidered. He was one of the guards that Logan referred to as a 'Hack', defiantly not one of the guards Logan let Blue talk to. With a pout Blue went to sit back on his bed as his mind raced over possibilities involving the problem with the security cameras.

He was woken up some hours later by the sound of the call door sliding open. Careful not to move too much he peeked his eyes open and watched silently as Logan shuffled into the room. He had his arm in a plaster cast from his wrist to his elbow. Blue held his breath in an attempt not to cry out and shut his eyes tightly, listening as Logan hauled himself up onto the bed above. He opened his eyes again and contemplated getting up to check that the man was ok.

"Go back to sleep Blue." Logan's tired voice drifted down from the bed above yet was loud enough in the dead silence of the cell block that Blue jumped slightly. He mumbled something incoherent as he rolled over and pulled the thin blanket up over his face.

The next day at school was no different from the first. He hadn't had time to put his new plan into motion so he simply tried to sit and observe. He had talked to Minion about it that morning and they had decided that if they simply sat and did nothing unless they were directly spoken to then they would be ok. If they were not bothering anyone then why would anyone want to bother him? At least, that was what they thought would happen.

"What are you doing?" A voice started Blue out of his musings as he sat on the carpet with a book in his lap. It was just after lunch and the teacher had told each of them to find a book from the small library and to sit and read quietly. Blue had chosen one at random, he had already skimmed over the titles and had found that none of them were anywhere near the level of the books in the library at the prison. In the end he found he had chosen The Jungle Book and simply sat, gazing at the pages, reading but not really taking any of it in.

"I said, What are you doing?" The voice said again before Blue had a chance to answer. He turned and looked over his shoulder, finding Wayne Scott standing behind him with his arms folded over his chest. Blue quickly went back over the last few minutes in his head, for the life of him he couldn't think of anything he had done wrong.

"I-"

"You were staring! You have been staring at the other kids all day." Wayne said in a voice that reminded Blue of the orison guards, authoritative and pompous, "They don't like it. It's upsetting them, having you watch tem like that. I don't like to see people upset."

Blue gulped at the threat that was hidden in the boy's voice. He didn't mean to make anyone upset, all he was trying to do was to find out what made the other kids happy so he could try and get them to like him. Minion's small growling noise brought him out of his thoughts and he quickly stood up, placing himself in-between Minion and the other boy.

"I didn't mean to." Blue said in a calm voice, "I'm sorry if I upset them."

"Well you did upset them." Wayne's voice virtually stank of superiority, "and that upset's me."

"I-I'm sorry." Blue said as the boy drifted up into the air in order to loom over Blue in a more intimidating manner that the guards had ever been able to manage.

"If I find you staring at anyone like that again I'll tell teacher and then you will be in trouble, and you wouldn't want that would you?"

"No."

"Good," Wayne said with a smile, "I'm glad we had this little chat."

With that he flew off back to the other kids sitting on the other side of the room. Blue quickly sat back down and focused on the story of a little boy who had been lost from his mother and was being raised and protected and hunted by the animals of the forest. In he child's mind the boy in the story was small and blue and never quite found his place in the forest.


	16. Family

"I just had an accident ok? It's nothing to worry about." Logan's voice was a little strained, his frustration obvious on his face as he looked down at the boy, worry causing his vivid green eyes to shine brightly, "now would you please stop asking me?"

Blue had hurried back through the prison on his return from school that day in order to speak to Logan as soon as possible. The man had been gone again before Blue had woken up which shocked the boy to no end. Ha had sat at breakfast poking his food around his plate wondering why he hadn't heard the man leave. Minion had almost managed to convince him that he had only dreamt Logan's return which was one reason why he had been so anxious to see for himself.

"But what happened?" Blue asked, hoping his voice didn't sound as whiny as it felt.

"Look, I got it shut in a door ok? That's all, just a stupid accident!" Logan said sharply causing the boy to jump. Logan closed his eyes tightly and rubbed at them with his good hand. He had got his right arm trapped in a door, that was true. Only it had been broken because of someone else shutting that door on his arm. Logan never went looking for trouble, he really didn't. All he wanted to do was keep his head down and stay out of trouble until his time was up. If trouble came looking for him then he could defend himself. But when trouble came looking for Blue then trouble would regret ever having that idea.

Derek had been seen prowling around again, trying to get the other prisoners on Logan's block to bend to his will. While men in form his particular crimes were considered the lowest of the low, even within the prison population, the an was still a force to be reckoned with. He used his strength and apparent lack of morals to get to the head of his block within a few months of being placed there. There were even rumours stating that he had been transferred from another prison because he had killed an inmate and two guards. The man was cunning and seemed willing to play the long game which worried Logan endlessly. Derek was a very very dangerous man and had the ability to draw other very dangerous men under his influence.

"Oh don't look at me like that!" Logan said with a smile as he reached out with his good hand to rub on the boy's head. He had been sitting there looking for all the world like a kicked puppy giving Logan the biggest guilt trip ever, "I'm not mad at you, my arm just hurts a bit and it makes me a bit cranky."

"HA! Cranky is rite! You've been moping around like a bear with a sore head all day!" Marci's laugh seemed o snap through the air causing all of the cell's occupants to jump in shock, "Got news for you boys, The papers have all come through for your little legal ceremony. The Warden has given the go ahead, despite him not being too thrilled with your most recent escapade." Marci raised a reprimanding eyebrow and did a very good impression of a disapproving school teacher. Blue shivered at the thought.

"Seriously?" Logan asked, a grin spreading on his face for the first time tat day.

"No, actually I thought I'd just crush you mercilessly." Marci said with a look of boredom on her face. Logan's face fell instantly causing Marci to break out in to a wicked grin, "You big idiot, would I lie about something like that? Now c'mon the both of you! The Warden is waiting. Oh and Blue, I got a surprise for you for after so don't go rushing off anywhere ok?"

"Where do you think I'd go?" Blue answered with a frown. as he stood to follow Logan and Marci out of the cell. Logan had seen time and time again how sarcasm was lost on the boy, he chuckled to himself wondering how long that innocent streak would last.

The Warden was indeed waiting for them in his office, a government official from the CPS sitting off to one side. This room always made Blue nervous, he was actually trembling, not entirely sure what was going on. He didn't like people in suits. He looked up to Logan and was surprised to see a smile light up the man's face.

"Oh for crying' out loud!" Logan hissed with a smirk pulling on his face as he got back to his cell with Blue sat up on his shoulders. Tied to the bars on the inside of the cell were a few helium balloons and a banner that said 'Happy Birthday!', "Who's birthday is it?"

"That was the best we could find, for some reason we didn't seem to have any 'happy adoption day' banners in the office." Marci chuckled as she watched Blue hop down from his new fathers shoulders to examine the balloons.

"Well, I guess I'll let you guys off then." Logan smiled, "thank you Miss, I know none of you had to do this."

"What, the balloons?"

"No, the adoption! It means a lot to Blue, you know?" Logan chuckled to himself when the balloon Blue was examining burst loudly in his face, "After they explained everything to him they asked him 'What do you want to do?' He just looked up at them with the most serious expression on his face and said 'I want Mr Logan to be my Daddy, just like all the other kids in my books have a Daddy.'"

"Awwww!" Marci grinned, "you know, I knew you had a soft spot for the kid but I never realised he turned you into a walkin-talkin marshmallow!" With that she strolled off on her rounds, banging her baton against the bars of a cell to break up a rather heated discussion between two of the other prisoners.

"Mr Logan?" Blue was about to continue when he noticed Logan's raised eyebrow and questioning smirk, "Oh, err, I mean... Pa? What are these?" He gestured to the balloons,

"That's better," Logan said as he walked into the cell to sit at the writing desk, "They are called 'Helium Balloons'-" He was about to continue with an explanation when the boy nodded and then grabbed Minion before heading out of the cell with one of the balloons clasped by it's string trailing after him, "Hey, where do you think you are going?"

"The Library. I want to know how it can fly like that." with that Blue disappeared out of the cell to go and find out for himself exactly what a 'helium balloon' was.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Sorry, this one is a bit rubbish, I really got stuck on this chapter. Having never been in prison or through adoption I have no idea how either works or if this situation is even possible but hey, not real world so...*shrugs*_

_The adoption is important for later on in this story and in its follow up so stay tuned... the next one will be better and soon...the early teen years!_


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